Saturday is the 10th Annual Recovery Community Celebration, which will take place in Apodaca Park in Las Cruces. The theme will be “Recovery is R.E.A.L.—Restoring Every Aspect of Life.” Scott Brocato spoke with Athena Huckaby, Chair of the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force and Special Project Manager with Doña Ana County Health and Human Services, about the event, and about September being National Suicide Prevention Month.
Scott Brocato:
Athena, this Saturday is the 10th annual Recovery Community Celebration taking place at Apodaca Park. Talk about the event.
Athena Huckaby:
Sure. So the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force, for which I am the chair, has been doing this event for 10 years now, so it's really exciting. The last couple of years we've been at Young Park, but this year we're at Apodaca Park, Saturday from 10 to 2. We have a lot of free resources for the community. We're going to have free acudetox. We're going to have a free sober lounge. We have Caliche's doing free one-topping sundaes and hot dogs. We have Pepe's Cocina is coming. They're going to be making food. We've also got the Burger Nook giving away some burgers. So free food, community, music. I think we're going to have a sound bath. It's going to be a great event.
Scott Brocato:
A sound bath? What is that?
Athena Huckaby:
Yeah, that's where somebody plays singing bowls.
Scott Brocato:
How has the event grown over the past ten years?
Athena Huckaby:
That's a good question. I mean, I think that it's been different degrees at different times. And we even went through COVID when it was a totally online event. Then, the next year, I believe it was at the convention center and was more of a--what do I want to say--like a resource fair, kind of. It was a much larger event at that time. It was quite big. And then we've slowly kind of made it more for the community, to come with different, what do I want to say, like different services. Not just a resource fair, but also like “Have a burger, get a haircut!” Somebody that there's some unhoused folks, over at Apodaca, and we would love for them to come over, get a burger, get a haircut. “Are there any resources that could help you?” Get those folks connected.
Scott Brocato:
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and according to a recent report from the New Mexico Department of Health, New Mexico's suicide rate has dropped by 19% between 2024 and 2025. Its data indicates social connectedness, higher education attainment, and housing security is associated with a reduced risk of suicide. What are your thoughts?
Athena Huckaby:
Those things are all true. My treasurer, Shara Thorpe, and I were having a conversation yesterday, and she had looked up some statistics about Medicaid participation and that higher Medicaid enrollment. People having access to Medicaid are less likely to contemplate or complete suicide, or are better able to get connected to the resources they need. So I think it's not just that. It's access to health insurance, it's access to housing, it's access to all of those.
Suicide, along with overdose death, those are both referred to as “deaths of despair.” So I think, anything that we can do to eliminate despair in the population helps with both of those things. And they're uniquely correlated as well, substance use and suicide.
Scott Brocato:
Well, the report also states that in 2025, suicide was the 9th leading cause of death for New Mexicans, the second leading cause of death for New Mexico youth, 12 to 17. Why is it such a leading cause of death, for youth in particular, still?
Athena Huckaby:
I think one of the reasons is because when our prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed until we're 25 or 26. And so we often talk about of suicide as one bad, one exceptionally bad moment where everything feels insurmountable and like it's going to last forever. When we're young, 16 or 17, I remember going through breakups. I remember having...I mean, real tragedies happen in my family. It wasn't just joking trauma, and you feel like you're never going to recover from that. This is...it's insurmountable, and you don't have that ability to sort of see the long, trajectory of your life and what's this going to be like when I'm 40 or 50 or 60. And I think that that's part of it.
There was a really great article in the New York Times that talked about a study that was done recently that talked about states that had fully operationalized 988 had lower rates of youth suicide. So that's something that we've been focused on. You know, when somebody calls 988, you know, we want someone to be able to come and pick that person up, take them to the crisis triage center, you know, or whatever is needed, follow up with them. What does that look like in more rural areas of our county? if you're living in Catron County, right, and you call 988, there isn't always somewhere to go, especially that's close by. So I think all large rural states suffer, unfortunately, from these higher suicide numbers.
Scott Brocato:
What are some of the warning signs that people can look for, suicidal warning signs, in other people?
Athena Huckaby:
There is a really great training that we're doing called Question, Persuade, Refer. I mean, I think something very directly, people can say things like, “I just don't know how I'm going to get through this ,” or “I don't know if I want to live.” I mean, I think we're all looking for these secret things, but I think sometimes people will say things pretty directly and then we don't know how to address that.
So something like a Question, Persuade, Refer training, when somebody makes a comment like that, then we question them like, “Well, tell me more about that.” I think people think that if we talk to people about suicide, that they're going to be more likely to complete suicide or to attempt. But I think that's actually the other way around. if somebody is talking to us about suicide, then we need to meet them where they're at and not be afraid to talk to them about, what are you thinking about? You know, what are you contemplating? Can I help you go talk to somebody? Like, let's go to the crisis triage center.
Scott Brocato:
The Crisis Triage Center, 988...what are some other places that people can turn to if they're feeling suicidal?
Athena Huckaby:
Sure, I mean, there's always our two behavioral health hospitals. There's Peak Behavioral Health in Santa Teresa and there's Mesilla Valley Hospital here in town. I would say Memorial Medical Center has a mental health unit on the fifth floor that's run by Summit, the same people that run Peak and the Crisis Triage Center.
I really like the Crisis Triage Center, to be honest, because it's a one-stop shop. if whatever your crisis is, if you just haven't slept and you're having a really bad day, it's a no wrong door approach. So to get admitted to the hospital, you need to meet certain criteria. But to go to the Crisis Triage Center and stay for up to 23 hours, you just have to go and say you're having a crisis. And it can just be needing somebody to talk to. It doesn't need to meet some level of acuity.
Scott Brocato:
Athena Huckaby, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us.
Athena Huckaby:
I always love coming to talk to you, Scott. Thank you for inviting me.
