I’ve worked in the field of suicide prevention for nearly a decade. In that time I have seen and experienced a lot of interesting things. National Suicide Prevention Week, which falls September 10-16, 2017, is a perfect time to reflect upon some of the changes and advancements, as well as looking forward to the future.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month (MHAM). This is a chance to learn about signs and symptoms of mental illnesses and help fight stigma that keeps people from receiving vital care. This month’s column won’t focus directly on MHAM, but upon a recent challenge in the mental health field, the Netflix Original series 13 Reasons Why, which since its release has generated a lot of buzz, especially from mental health and suicide prevention organizations.
Our last article explored bringing folks to the table to address suicide, or who. We’ll now assume you’ve at least rounded up a few interested folks. If you don’t have a large and diverse group, don’t worry, you can work on that over time. This is a process of continually developing new partnerships, inviting new people and organizations to the table, and constantly improving and strengthening your efforts.
Suicide is a complex behavior just as we all are complex individuals. A suicidal person can be a person at any point on our walk through life. There are greater risks and protective factors present, but suicide can occur among all races, ages, religious affiliations or philosophies (or lack thereof), economic statuses, ages, and professions. It is important to remember this complexity when thinking about approaching prevention efforts.
Teen suicide. These two words strike fear into the hearts of most parents. Due to this fear, the topic is frequently treated like a boogieman, and people believe that if they don’t talk about it, will not happen. The sad truth is that reality is the exact opposite. Silence leads to lost lives. In order to combat this issue we must confront it, become educated, expand, and strengthen programs to prevent, intervene, treat, and unfortunately, respond in the aftermath of suicide (postvention).
