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Jessie Smith

Ms. Jizi

UWRT 1104

22 October 2017

Inquiry Project Research Proposal

1. How can suicide be prevented?

2. My specific purpose of this project is to bring attention to the seriousness of mental

health and how, in doing so, suicide can be prevented. I hope to educate others on

how mental health is just as important as physical health. I want to learn more about

the statistics of suicides and the causes of them. I want to better understand the

reasons behind why suicide happens. I picked this as my inquiry question because my

friend committed suicide two years ago and it has had an earth-shattering effect on

my life. I want other people to be aware of what can be done to prevent suicide from

happening. I would like to learn for myself the signs to look for in other people, the

signs that I missed in my friend, Alex. This inquiry reflects my signature character

strength of honesty. Suicide and mental health are not talked about enough because

they can make people uncomfortable. What I intend to do with this project is shine

a light on these issues no matter how uncomfortable it may make people feel. As

someone who has struggled with these issues and lost a very close friend because of

them, I believe I have a duty to point out the importance of it. Doing this also reflects

my character strength of Bravery. Its not easy for me to talk about my struggles with

depression, I sometimes feel embarrassed about it. It is especially hard to talk about
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my friend who died. These are things I dont usually tell people. I come off as tough

to many people, and revealing these things about my life scares me because I feel like

it might make people view me as weak. But I know deep down that speaking out

about this takes courage, and I know my friend would be proud of me.

3. I bring a few different ideas and beliefs to this project. I do believe that sometimes

people who commit suicide dont show any obvious signs they are going to do it. I

think that there are some people who cant be saved from suicide no matter how

much you try. I have a lot of experience with this topic. When my friend committed

suicide, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why. I learned many statistics, one

being that close to 800,000 people a year die from suicide all around the world,

44,000 being Americans. I know that there isnt always a specific reason people

commit suicide. There is a stigma that depression isnt a real illness, and that people

can just get over it. This is one of the reasons why many people never talk about their

suicidal thoughts. Society also shames suicide, one way is insurance companies not

covering hospital/funeral costs for suicide victims and their families.