Teen Suicide Special Re-airs to Mark National Suicide Prevention Month

It may shock you to find out that Colorado has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. And that suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens today. Nationally about six thousand teens a year or about 18 a day, commit suicide. Last year, Comcast MetroBeat TV produced "Student Voices: Teen Suicide," a special 60-minute program about this epidemic and what can be done about it. We received an overwhelmingly positive response to the show which eventually was shown throughout the U.S. But the problem of teenage suicide and its causes still remain everywhere.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and we feel so strongly about the issue of youth suicide that we are re-airing "Student Voices: Teen Suicide" on MetroBeat TV beginning Thursday, September 6.

The "Student Voices" series has won six national broadcast and cable television awards including a Heartland Emmy, and this teen suicide special has been recognized with a 2007 Beacon Award.

Comcast MetroBeat TV is a series of dynamic programs that highlight local people, places and happenings, all based on what viewers say they want to see. The one-and-a-half hour program block is produced monthly as a unique collaboration of Comcast and local municipal Channel 8s in the Denver metro area, with input from local residents. Topics and people featured on MetroBeat TV programs come largely from ideas that viewers submit on the www.metrobeat.tv Web site.

MetroBeat TV programs can be seen on Channel 8 TV twice a week, and On Demand for Comcast Digital subscribers. Current shows are also available for viewing anytime online at the www.metrobeat.tv website.

The episodes in the next MetroBeat TV lineup are:

STUDENT VOICES: TEEN SUICIDE
Episode 7
Encore Premiere: 9/6/07, 7:30-8 p.m.
A Special 60-Minute Encore Edition during National Suicide Prevention Month.

Colorado has one of the highest suicide rates in the country and it's the second leading cause of death among teens -- and the problem isn't going away. Nationally, about 6,000 teens a year, or about 18 every day, kill themselves.

What are the warning signs? How can you help prevent suicide? And what can you do to help a friend, or even yourself? These are just some of the questions that are explored in this special one-hour edition of "Student Voices" that examines the serious and disturbing issue of teen suicide.

This special program forgoes its usual upbeat graphics and music because of the gravity of the topic. Its one-hour length also will pre-empt the "MetroBeat Magazine" show that is regularly seen at 8 p.m. Thursdays and 12 p.m. Sundays, during this September-October schedule.

In the MetroBeat TV studio, seven metro-area students speak out to host Brian Harper about how and why their lives have been irrevocably altered by thoughts of suicide and the ways in which youth suicides have changed the worlds in which they cope. With the help of guest experts, they also brainstorm some solutions.

First, three teens talk candidly about their personal and painful struggles with suicide. Following that, viewers find out why each teen attempted to take his or her own life, more than once, and how they eventually got help.

Next, viewers meet BOB and JAN BURNSIDE who lost their daughter Robin when she was 17 years old. In the 20 years since her death, the Burnsides have taken the tragic loss of their only child and turned it around to help save others. They are co-directors of the Suicide Prevention Intervention Network, also known as SPIN. Because Robin reached out to two friends before taking her own life, they want teens to know that if a friend tells you they are going to commit suicide, it's a cry for help and that you need to tell a parent or adult, even if you promised you wouldn't tell anyone.

Finally, "Student Voices" shines its spotlight on BRYCE MACKIE, a high school junior who decided to take action by making an award-winning film that captures his true-life battle with depression and suicide. The documentary includes a speech Bryce gave to his school after receiving treatment, and it is being used as a teaching tool for teens, parents and teachers to discuss the painful topics of depression and suicide.

Guest Experts for this episode include:

• JOHN VIDAL -- Former principal of Heritage High School, has done a lot of work on suicide prevention and written a book about what schools can do about this tragic problem. He also sent MetroBeat TV an e-mail requesting coverage of this topic.

• JAN and BOB BURNSIDE -- Co-directors, SPIN or Suicide Prevention Intervention Network, an organization they founded after the suicide of their 17-year-old daughter.

• MARY ANN HEWICKER -- Crisis clinician at Community Reach Center in Thornton.

• DEBBIE STAFFORD -- Colorado State Representative, House District 40. She attempted suicide at the age of 17.

• BARBARA COLOROSA -- Author of The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander.

• TOM OLBRICH -- Director of Access and Emergency Services at Jefferson Community Mental Health.

Teens and college students, their friends, parents, relatives, educators, and community and religious leaders are all urged to tune in to this extremely important presentation to the community.

MetroBeat TV's "Student Voices," is winner of the 2006 Heartland Regional Emmy for Best Youth Program; this episode also won a 2007 Beacon Award. Hosted by BRIAN HARPER.

METROBEAT MAGAZINE
"MetroBeat Magazine" is pre-empted this month by the special 60-minute edition of "Student Voices: Teen Suicide." "MetroBeat Magazine" returns on October 11 with results from our "Best Metro Area Radio Personality" Poll and more!

PEOPLE TO WATCH
Episode 14
Premieres: 9/6/07, 8:30-9 p.m.

Interview host BERTHA LYNN goes one-on-one with two local personalities who stand out from the crowd.

DANIEL YOHANNES - Banker and Investor

Colorado banker and investor DANIEL YOHANNES is on the leading edge of a new business frontier - 'green banking.' A self-made success story, Daniel emigrated from Ethiopia at age 17 to get an education and build a career in the United States. He worked his way up through the banking ranks to being president and chief executive officer of the US Bank chain in Colorado. He's now the chairman of the New Resource Bank, a financial institution that supports eco-friendly companies. Daniel gives back to the Colorado community by helping diverse nonprofit organizations like Project CURE and National Jewish Medical Center. He also loves art, especially contemporary African art. His generosity helped establish the Daniel Yohannes Family Gallery of African Art at the Denver Art Museum.

CHUCK ROZANSKI - Founder and President of Mile High Comics

CHUCK ROZANSKI has dedicated his life to promoting comics as an art form, helping comics shops throughout the country expand from numbers in the hundreds to numbers in the thousands. He started Mile High Comics in his parent's basement in 1969 when he was 13 years old. Six years later, he opened the first Mile High Comics retail store in Boulder. By the time he was 21, he had a chain of four stores, and had purchased the "Mile High" collection of Golden Age comics, the largest and highest-quality collection of old comics ever discovered -- mint copies of every comic book published from 1938 to 1950.

ABOUT METROBEAT TV:

Comcast MetroBeat TV is a collaborative pilot project between Comcast and 25 greater Denver Metropolitan area communities and their government access channels. It was designed to explore new potential uses of cable television technologies that would meet both the unique needs of local communities beyond the current television models, and increase the value of community programming to citizens at a regional level. Viewers can find out more, watch programs, and also submit their own ideas for show topics at www.metrobeat.tv.