Suicide prevention workshop Part II

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

This is part II of a series on suicide prevention and what we as a community can do to recognize the role we can play in helping out those who struggle.
There are millions out there who have attempted, but it’s not talked about loudly, it’s not talked about openly. They are afraid people will judge them.
“You have to look at the role firearms play in suicide. Half of all suicides are with firearms.
“What can we do better in our lives to help? They need to know that people care. Some people avoid people who have attempted suicide or avoid people who have loved ones who died by suicide. They don’t know what to say so they avoid the family. Say the same thing as when someone dies in a car accident. One suicide death impacts at least 100 other lives.
“The silence and shame make things worse. In close knit communities you can see the impact, in larger communities, it’s still there, but harder to see.
“The lost productivity from people who have died by suicide and are no longer here costs our nation $51 billion per year.
“Suicide prevention has the lowest funded research of any disease. AIDS had $2.9 billion spent; heart disease, $1.2 billion; Prostate cancer-$266 million and suicide-37 million; it’s at the bottom.
“And the death rate continues to rise. As advocates we need to keep abreast of all the bills that deal with suicide. We need to be informed. In health care, people are denied services. We need a bill passed that will care for our brains (brain health).
“Why do people take their own lives? There is no single reason. There are usually multiple reasons all happening at once.
“The leading cause, 90 percent of all who died by suicide had a diagnosed mental illness. Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression, etc. If someone tells you to snap out of it, that doesn’t do any good, because you can’t snap out of it.
“If you could you would, no one wants to feel this way. Serotonin is produced in the front part of the brain. If the brain doesn’t have serotonin present as it should the brain is not healthy. You can’t work yourself through it. Serotonin is made in the belly. There have been brain scans of people who died and were depressed and their serotonin was low. People who experience a brain condition need your love and support. You would show up to help someone who has an illness. This is the same thing. When a brain is sick, maybe that person has been mean to us. Don’t take it personally, it’s not them, they are sick. If you have a brain illness you do not make rational decisions. Your brain is chemically altered.
“People need to get help, but there is a fear, a stigma. If you had diabetes your body doesn’t produce insulin. You can control with diet and exercise.
“With depression you can work at changing behaviors, you don’t just take medicine. Most depression is treatable with great results. People with mental conditions sometimes go 10 years without treatment. Get help sooner. With most people, a first episode can occur as early as 11 years old. There’s something going on with the mind.
“Most people who are suicidal are ambivalent about death, they don’t care.
“Think of those people who jumped from the towers during 911. They were not rational, they were in crisis. In crisis, the brain tries to respond. Those people were trying to get away, they were looked on with compassion. There is so much judgment with suicide.
“Who is at risk? health conditions, family history, environmental factors, depression, chronic pain, brain injuries, car accidents, childhood trauma. Children who have been abused are at greater risk. The LGBT community is at risk. People need love, compassion and to be accepted and loved. We care about others because they are human. LGBT are at risk because of discrimination, victimization, family rejection and minority status. They have internalized that because they are gay, they feel they aren’t good enough. Seventy percent of the homeless youth in Utah are gay Mormon kids who have been kicked out of their homes.
“People feel left out in Utah if you’re not in the church. Love them because they are your child. Older people die by suicide. Depression, isolation, significant losses, changes in health, loss of autonomy are factors.
“Other factors to those who die by suicide include depression, genetic risk, prolonged stress, drinking or drug taking more than usual.
“What do we do? What are the protective factors? mental health care, what do you do for stress relief; work, music, golf, you have to have something for relaxation.
“We can teach problem solving skills, cultural and religious beliefs, connection with family and support. We are at risk, if a family or community rejects us. When we were little if we wanted to know something we looked in the encyclopedia. We don’t have to work for answers any more. We need more problem solving skills.
“I’m not a fan of everyone gets a trophy. Life is not all sunshine and roses 24-7 and that’s OK. We have to work on and cultivate those skills.
“You need to teach problem solving in school and stress relief and budgeting. Those are the things we should be looking at. Be a part of something, compassion, companionship, acceptance.
“When someone is in a suicidal crisis, they are sensitive, in that moment, they need time. Restructure their access to guns or chemicals. There was a boy recently at Snow College and in his time of crisis, he was able to purchase a gun the same day and took his life.
“Access is a factor, time is a factor. Buy a suicidal person some time, don’t make it easy for them. We need our culture to be smarter about mental health.
“Two out of five people with a brain condition are getting help. Mental health and physical health should all have a $20 deductible for treatment, there shouldn’t be a parody. Physical and mental conditions should be treated the same.
“Get exercise, sleep, eat a healthy diet, manage stress. Sleep is huge. Suicidal people take their lives in the middle of the night, they aren’t sleeping, they aren’t eating.
“Stress management is important. Excessive stress leads to cortisol release, excessive amounts of cortisol are hard on the body.
“Limit access to means, medication, firearms, barriers on bridges. There have been 26,000 suicides off the Golden Gate bridge. Kevin Hines is a survivor of suicide. He is bipolar and has to be medicated forever. He had been in a psychotic episode for three weeks, he went to the bridge and walked for 45 minutes.
“He was waiting for someone to ask him if he was OK. Only one woman asked him if he would take her picture. As he jumped and was free falling, his brain jumped back in and he thought, Oh no, I don’t want to die. It shattered his spine when he hit the water.
“He felt something brush against his leg, it was a sea lion who pushed him to the surface. He and his dad have lobbied for barriers on the bridge. There is a gentlemen in Australia who lives by a bridge people have used for suicide and he has talked back 270 people from taking their own lives.
“There are a lot of people doing good things. We need to support each other and say enough is enough and come together.
“The suicide foundation can help with training. If you see someone who is struggling, talk to them. Fear is why they don’t talk about it. Suicidal people will say, if someone would have asked I would have told them. Watch for warning signs and take them seriously.
“If their behavior changes, if sleep patterns change. Take seriously everytime someone says they are suicidal. It is a cry for attention and that’s exactly what they need is attention.
“People feel trapped when struggling with pain and/or addiction. If someone is acting weird, if they are withdrawn. Their brain is sick and it is manifesting different symptoms. Get help. If someone gives away their possessions. An elementary age boy gave away his magic cards. He was asked why he was giving them away and he said he was moving to heaven.
“He went home that day and died by suicide. No one asked him what was going on.
“People who are contemplating suicide may not be down and depressed. They may experience anger, irritability, apathy, impulsive, agitation, excitability. They may feel relief because they have made that decision to end their own life.
“Guilt and shame are factors in suicide. It’s normal to feel guilt if you have done something wrong. But shame is different, shame is internalized. Be careful, some teenagers get a speeding ticket and think it’s the end of the world. Ask questions, say you’re not thinking of killing yourself are you?
“Youth do not understand that it’s permanent. Let the person talk. You can’t save another person. They have to do it themselves. You can’t fix it.
“Don’t minimize what someone is going through. Validate people. It’s real to them. I always say, if you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit in the dark with you. Be there.
“1-800-273-TALK or text 741-741 these are crisis lines where a trained clinician will talk you through an episode. They have resources and can send first responders.
“A girl called me and she was hysterical and driving on the freeway, I told her to pull over and we got the talk line on a three way call to settle her down. She was 17 years old and living in Salt Lake and going to school and had a test the next day and was homesick.
“We talked her through the crisis. Her mom flew her home. There is a safe Utah app with a chat function where you can chat live and remain anonymous. The site keeps the threads from conversations to see what the crisis is if the caller calls again. Kids have used that app to report guns at school and suicidal people.
“Create a safety plan. Don’t wait. Look at risk factors. A Hope Box lists all your reasons for living. We need to look at suicide differently. I want to help you get your support group and coalition together. I can help with training,” said Hiatt.
Hiatt said their Suicide awareness walk this year raised $200,000 and they can help with funding for the Emery County group.
“We want to do whatever we can to help, because people are irreplaceable,” said Hiatt.
The next activity for the suicide working group will be on National Suicide Survivors day on Nov. 18.
It will begin at 10 a.m. at the Emery County Sheriff’s Office metal building. There will be speakers telling their survivor stories and how they have been affected by suicide in their lives. There will be a balloon launch in memory of suicide victims.