The suicide rate in Shasta County remained alarmingly high in 2007, despite a slight dip in the number of people who killed themselves compared to the previous year.

Forty-two Shasta County residents killed themselves in 2007 - a drop from 49 in 2006, according to annual preliminary cause of-death statistics released last week by the Shasta County Public Health department. Even with the slight drop, Shasta County's residents are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as other areas in the state.

Diana Clayton, 64, of Redding says those figures are cause for alarm. She knows that suicide isn't something that hurts just one person. When a person kills him or herself, the death lingers with loved ones long after the suicide victim dies.

She says she's still grieving for her son, 28-year-old James McGahn. He killed himself in 1992. That would be hard enough o bear, but in 2006, her sister, 45-year-old Amorita Beley also killed herself.

While many families keep such tragedies locked in a mind made closet of guilt and shame, Clayton says she wants to talk about suicide and help people find ways to prevent the pain she feels.

"If we have more people recognize signs of suicide, there might be more chances to interrupt this journey," Clayton said. "It's a forever decision."

That's why Clayton, vice president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Shasta County, has started working with county and state health department leaders in finding ways to stop the county's suicide slide.

She says she's begun teaching monthly QPR certification classes. Similar to CPR training, the classes are based on the three-part "Question, Persuade and Refer" triage designed train people to spot the signs of suicide and find ways to convince a suicidal person to seek help.

"This is the last taboo, so to speak," Clayton said. "We can talk about so many things, but we don't talk about this. For many, when someone says, 'I'm going to kill myself,' it's a hugely uncomfortable situation."

David Plowman, executive director of Help Inc., the county's suicide hotline, said such classes serve the same life-saving function as those that certify people in CPR.

The only difference is that a QPR rescue doesn't look nearly as dramatic as pulling someone from a swimming pool and giving them mouth-to-mouth, he said.

"If you took CPR and never used it, would that be a bad thing? No way," Plowman said. "It's the same thing with QPR."

Donnell Ewert, the director of Shasta County Public Health, said such classes are just one of the steps the county is supporting as it looks for ways to stem suicides, which officials believe are largely tied to the area's high rate of gun ownership. When Shasta County residents choose to kill themselves, they're more likely to succeed since there are so many guns around, Ewert said.

Recently, the county hired a communication education specialist who will help address the such issues, Ewert said.

In addition, the state's mental health department will use funds and services generated by the Proposition 63 property taxes voters approved in 2004 to expand mental health services and programs.

Ewert said a portion of those funds will go toward local suicide-prevention efforts.

Although suicides are alarmingly high in Shasta County, those deaths account for just two percent of the 2,182 deaths reported in 2007, according to the health department's report.

Ewert said other self-destructive behaviors are linked to the county's largest killers.

Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases accounted for 82 percent of all Shasta County deaths, and many of those diseases are linked to smoking, obesity and alcohol and drug abuse.

"People need to understand that many of these deaths are preventable," Ewert said. "There are things they can do in their own lives and in the community to help."