Suicide Prevention Month: Changing the Narrative on Suicide

September is Suicide Prevention Month. Although mental health and suicide prevention is important to address year-round, Suicide Prevention Month provides a dedicated time for people, organizations and communities to join their voices and share that there is hope, help is available, and healing is possible.

Changing the Narrative on Suicide

We all have mental health. It affects how we think, feel and act. It shapes how we handle stress, related to others and make choices.

Too often, public messaging conveys negative narratives about mental health and suicide. These negative narratives stigmatize mental health and suicide. This can contribute to feelings of uncertainty or shame. These feelings can prevent someone from seeking help or put them at greater risk for harm.

Instead, a narrative of hope or resilience lets people know there is help and suicide is preventable. Help is available when someone has questions or concerns about mental health, is experiencing thoughts of suicide or has made a suicide attempt.

Be an Advocate

We all play a role in creating communities that are safer from suicide. Talking about mental health and suicide on a community-level can help raise awareness and support of suicide prevention efforts and encourage individuals to access support.

Ways you can be an advocate include:

• Focus on normalizing mental health over stigma reduction.
• Promote help seeking and sharing support services or resources for those in need.
• Emphasize that suicide is preventable and there are actions individuals can take if they are having thoughts of suicide or know others who are or might be. Resources such as: the 988 Lifeline and through established local service providers and crisis centers.
• Know the warning signs as well as risk, and equally important, know what is effective to protect individuals (protective factors).

Support Someone You Care About

Often our first points of contact when we are struggling are our friends, family, or colleagues. If someone you know is struggling emotionally or having a hard time, talking with them can be the difference in getting them the help they need.

Talking to a loved one about mental health and suicide can be an uncomfortable and an uncertain topic but it is also one of the best ways to prevent it. We can all take action to have these conversations with someone who may be suicidal by using the five action steps from #BeThe1To.

Ask.

How: Asking openly and directly, “Are you thinking about suicide?” shows that you are willing to discuss suicide in a nonjudgmental and supportive manner. The other important part of this step is to listen to their reasons for their emotional pain as well as reasons that they want to continue to live. Help them focus on their reasons for living, not on the reasons that you think that they should stay alive.

Why: Findings suggest that acknowledging and talking about suicide may reduce suicidal
ideation.

Be there.

How: Be physically present for someone, speak with them on the phone when you can, or show up in any other way that demonstrates support for the person at risk. If you are unwilling or unable to commit to being there, talk with them to develop ideas on who might else be able to help and how they might support.

Why: Increasing someone’s connectedness to others and limiting their isolation has shown to be a protective factor against suicide.

Help Keep them Safe.

How: After the “Ask” step, and you’ve determined suicide is indeed being talked about, it is  important to find out a few things to establish immediate safety. The first question will be to ensure that they have not done something already to hurt themselves. Secondly, you will want to ask them if they have a plan and a way to die by suicide.

Why: Knowing the answers to each of these questions can tell us about the imminence and severity of danger the person is in.

Help them connect.

How: One way to start helping them find ways to connect is to work with them to develop a Safety Plan. A safety plan is designed to guide people through a crisis, with a goal to keep them safe and get them help.

Why: Connected people are significantly less likely to feel depressed, suicidal, and overwhelmed, while also feeling more hopeful.

Follow Up.

How: Make sure to follow-up with them to see how they’re doing. Leave a message, send a text, or give them a call. This is great time to see if there is anything else that you can do to support them.

Why: This type of contact can continue to increase their feelings of connectedness and share your ongoing support. There is evidence that even a simple form of reaching out, like sending a caring postcard, can potentially reduce their risk for suicide.

Know Where to Get Support

If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide, it’s important to know where to go for help. Foundation 2 Crisis Services is a great place to start. Our caring, compassionate counselors are available 24/7 to support you or a loved one. Call us at 319-362-2174 or 988, text 988, or visit our website to chat.