Chicago suicide: Rising suicide numbers raise alarms in Chicago, suburbs

By Karen Ann Cullotta, Special to the Tribune October 15, 2010

Just days after his son Ryan’s suicide, Richard Kirchhoff decided that his personal heartbreak would not remain a private matter.

“Most people don’t like to say the S-word, which is part of the problem,” said Kirchhoff, a McHenry County dentist and father of three surviving children who this week shared the story of his youngest son’s 2005 death at age 18.

The presentation, at a McHenry County forum called “Help and Hope,” was part of a new suicide prevention and awareness campaign prompted by officials in the McHenry County coroner’s office who noticed a spike in suicides in the first nine months of 2010.

via Chicago suicide: Rising suicide numbers raise alarms in Chicago, suburbs – chicagotribune.com.