Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

BISMARCK — For the first time in years, youth suicidality — thoughts of the act and attempts to carry it out — has begun to decrease in the United States.

Although it is too early to tell if the trend has extended to North Dakota, state experts agree suicide prevention efforts have been successful in responding to the rise in fatalities seen in previous years, and preliminary data backs that up.

“North Dakota is a trickier state for data because of the smaller population,” said Faye Seidler, a suicide prevention advocate and independent data analyst.

"If there’s a situation of five to ten suicides in a small commu

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