Dr. Sally shares the stories, science, and strategy of suicide prevention.
Starting September 4, individuals and organizations across the U.S. will engage in National Suicide Prevention Week in the lead-up to World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10. But suicide prevention doesn't matter for one day or week out of the year. Rather, it's a yearlong effort that requires patience, commitment, and—most of all—hope.
This year, for World Suicide Prevention Day, the theme is “Creating Hope through Action.” For too long we’ve been stuck in “awareness raising” — a necessary but not sufficient condition for change.
It’s time to take action. Here are 10 tips for an impactful National Suicide Prevention Week (September 5-11)/World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10th) - action steps you can take with you to impact your community all year long.
Cross-cutting and intersecting identities add richness to our suicide prevention movement; however, in order to accomplish solidarity, we need to be willing to create safe spaces for listening and empathy. As part of this process we must acknowledge that identity fluidity is also expected as people move through various life experiences. Across both lived experiences and academic ways of understanding suicide, we have an opportunity to learn by removing judgment and blame, and seeking compassion — especially when we have been on the opposite sides of fear.
Five Steps in Building Solidarity in the Suicide Prevention Movement…
Question: Is our hyper-focus on “safe messaging” getting in the way of “effective messaging”?...
For years, suicide prevention advocates have focused on “safe messaging,” a series of do’s and don’ts that emphasize help-seeking and discourage mentioning suicide details. The goal of these suggestions is to avoid triggering vulnerable people to over-identify with suicide as a way to escape their emotional pain. Many of these tips – like don’t glamorize or romanticize suicide --are beneficial, and we certainly don’t want our content to cause harm. But I and many others are starting to recognize that a single-minded focus on "safe messaging" may be getting in the way of us being effective in our communication....
