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U of PORTLAND STUDENTS STEADFAST IN FACING HARSH REALITY OF SUICIDE

1/31/2016

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Rev. Mark DeMott holds a picture of Michael Eberitzsch II during a memorial service at the University of Portland last March. (Photo by David DiLoreto, The Beacon)

An article in a recent issue of the University of Portland campus newspaper,The Beacon, introduced me to a story about a death by suicide that was stigmatized and how the effects of stigma are unfolding in real time -- and hopefully about how stigma is being overcome.

The article, by UP student Logan Crabtree, caught my eye because he tells of founding, with fellow student Jesse Dunn, an Active Minds chapter at UP "following the suicide of our friend Mike" -- and I am always moved when, in the aftermath of suicide, survivors like Crabtee and Dunn take action to improve mental health resources and services in their community.

I was also touched by Crabtree's frankness about the struggles of the new chapter, including the impact that another student's suicide had on him, only nine months after the death of Michael Eberitzsch II:

We were devastated by the news of Conner Hall’s suicide ... For me his death felt like a personal failure. I spent weeks questioning and reviewing every event, article and Facebook post we had made [during the start-up of Active Minds]. What else could we have done? Why did this happen? What else can we do?

I sympathized with Crabtree regarding his feeling of personal failure, which I believe everyone involved in suicide prevention has grappled with, each of us in our own way -- and I was curious about what was happening at UP. An Internet search led me to the backstory, which is, at turns, both troubling and hopeful -- just as facing the harsh reality of suicide often is.


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'COLUMBUS DISPATCH' SERIES DIGS DEEP ON SUICIDE AND ITS AFTERMATH

11/23/2015

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I hardly know where to begin in heartily recommending the "Silent Suffering" series published today by the Columbus Dispatch. Each of its half dozen in-depth feature stories and handful of engaging videos is in itself worth experiencing. Taken all together, the series offers an extraordinary opportunity to see suicide from the perspectives of those who struggle with thoughts of killing themselves, of caregivers who are devoted to preventing suicide, of family members who are left behind to ask "Why?" and truly of everyone in a community who is affected by suicide.

Click on the picture above to go to a video that sets the scene for the entire series (the video features several moving stories from people's personal experience). My introduction to the series came when a colleague sent me the article "Some Survivors Cope with Loss by Helping Others Affected by Suicide," which tells the stories of people bereaved by suicide who now volunteer in a variety of ways that change -- and literally save -- the lives of others struggling with suicide and its aftermath.

I hope the following quote from the "Helping Others" story persuades folks to explore whatever might interest them in this superb series. These are the words of Mary Ann Ward of Columbus, Ohio, who lost her son Murray to suicide in 2009 -- and who now facilitates a support group for people bereaved by suicide.
“All we can do is accept this loss without ever understanding it, and lean on one another to move forward ... I can give hope to those who are newer than I. From the pain, we can grow in knowledge and wisdom, and experience joy again.”
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GROUNDBREAKING GUIDELINES ADDRESS GRIEF, TRAUMA, DISTRESS OF SUICIDE LOSS

4/20/2015

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By Franklin Cook

A historic document, Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines, was announced earlier this month at the Association for Death Education and Counseling conference in San Antonio and at the American Association of Suicidology conference in Atlanta. The Grief After Suicide blog -- in an upcoming series of posts -- will cover a number of ways that this groundbreaking document is paving the way for reinventing postvention in America. For instance, the guidelines:

• Summarize research evidence showing that exposure to suicide unquestionably increases the chances that those exposed -- perhaps especially the bereaved -- are at higher risk for suicide as well as for numerous, sometimes debilitating mental health conditions
• Highlight the effects of a fatality on people beyond family members of the deceased, including friends, first responders, clinicians, colleagues, and others (even entire communities) who may require support in the wake of a suicide
• Describe a new framework for classifying people who experience a suicide (Exposed, Affected, Short-Term Bereaved, and Long-Term Bereaved) that will help focus research and guide the development of programs and services to meet the unique needs of specific populations (see the graphic at bit.ly/continuummodel)
• Advocate for a systems approach, through organizing interventions into three separate, overlapping categories:
    • Immediate Response: Based on mental-health crisis and disaster response principles
    • Support: From the familial, peer, faith-based, and community resources that help the bereaved cope with a death
    • Treatment: By licensed clinicians for conditions such as PTSD, Depression, and Complicated Grief
• Argue that suicide bereavement is unique because death by suicide is unique (i.e., it involves questions about the deceased's volition, the effects of trauma, the degree that suicide is preventable, and the role of stigma in people's treatment of the deceased and the bereaved)
• Present an outline of the research needed to expand and enrich what is known about suicide bereavement and other effects of suicide (which will lead to the development of evidence-based practices in suicide postvention)
• Assert that suicide grief support efforts ought to be informed by research and clinical advances over the past 20 years in the fields of bereavement support, traumatology, and crisis and disaster preparedness
• Include an appendix outlining numerous, practical resources for the suicide bereaved and those who care for them (please link to the expanded, online version of the resource clearinghouse)


An excerpt of the guidelines (Table of Contents, Executive Summary, Acknowledgements, Preface) is available at bit.ly/excerptsosl, and the complete document is available at bit.ly/respondingsuicide. The guidelines were created by the Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.
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"PUTTING A FACE ON SUICIDE" STRENGTHENS CONNECTION, WEAKENS STIGMA

3/2/2014

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Putting a Face on Suicide Montage
MARCH NEWSLETTER FEATURE

People involved in suicide prevention and suicide grief support hear a lot about "reducing stigma." In an online course I just finished creating for the National Center for Death Education, I write:
Suicide stigma continues to be a powerful and active force that is woven into the fabric of our communal interactions. Stigma affects people who think about suicide, who attempt it, who die from it, and who are left behind to mourn the dead ... Research shows that stigma negatively affects [survivors of suicide loss's] tendency to seek help, their social connections, and their sense of isolation ... SOSLs consistently report that people often do not know what to do or say to acknowledge or support their mourning, which suggests that suicide stigma continues to influence people's beliefs and behavior.
We also know from research that direct contact with people who are stigmatized reduces negative stereotypes. This indicates how powerful Mike Purcell's "Putting a Face on Suicide" project might be, for PAFOS provides the next closest experience to "direct contact" with people affected by suicide stigma. The project shares thousands of pictures in a simple format that is breathtaking in how it captures the beauty and diversity of people who die by suicide and heartbreaking in how starkly it portrays the tragedy of suicide.

The simple format is a plain frame containing each person's picture, name, and age. The pictures are broadcast one suicide victim after another in a seemingly unending stream on the PAFOS Facebook page. The pictures of each unique -- and very alive -- human being connect us all to one another, hopefully in a way that weakens the influence of suicide stigma.

Here are instructions for submitting information about a loved one for inclusion in "Putting a Face on Suicide."

Subscribe to the Grief After Suicide Newsletter.
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RICK WARREN SAYS HIS SON'S SUICIDE COMPELS MENTAL HEALTH MINISTRY

8/29/2013

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When I summarized a handful of reflections various representatives of the Christian faith offered about suicide in the wake of the suicide of the son of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, I found great hope in the compassion and understanding that was universally expressed by the commentators I quoted.

So I noted with interest an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle by a leading suicide researcher, Thomas Ellis, who commented on Warren's first sermon after his son's death four months ago. Ellis writes,

[Warren] resisted the urge to explain the unexplainable and instead delivered a sermon with a passionate call to action. His emphatic message was that neither suicide nor mental illness should be cause for shame; and he committed to his global audience to use his public ministry to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness.

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STUDY SHOWS SURVIVORS NEEDS IN NEWS COVERAGE GO BEYOND PREVENTION

4/13/2013

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A recent study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on the views of people bereaved by suicide regarding news coverage of a suicide fatality found that currently available media guidelines for appropriate coverage of a suicide may not adequately take into account the needs of survivors of suicide loss.
[There is] a tension, and a difference of emphasis, between guidance for the press based on strategies to prevent copycat suicides (especially avoidance of certain details) and the perspectives of bereaved people (who feel they have a right to expect sympathetic and accurate reporting). There is a tension between a guideline that suggests that certain information should be withheld/not disclosed and a perspective that favours (in reports of an individual case) an accurate account, which may include such information (such as an image of the person who died).
At issue is the fact that ...
... systematic reviews of the literature have concluded that suicide rates may rise after media reports of suicide, especially if the dead person was a celebrity, if the report glamorises the suicide, if reporting is prominent, or if the method of suicide is discussed in detail.
Of course, those findings have influenced the media guidelines issued by suicide prevention proponents (see the U.S. guidelines), and the importance of preventing copycat suicide is paramount; but the bereaved's concerns about news reports of suicide also ought to be taken into account. The study of survivors showed that some want to share their story through news reports but others do not, so it would be helpful to have information and assistance readily available to the newly bereaved -- including how to take care of their own needs and what impact news coverage has on suicidal behavior -- so they can make make informed decisions about talking with the media.

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SURVIVOR COUPLE ADVOCATES FOR THE BEREAVED IN NEW BOOK AND FILM

1/8/2013

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"Couple Hopes to Help the Suicide Bereaved" (Annette Hinkle, Sag Harbor Express) highlights Bill and Bev Feigelman's efforts to spread the word about the needs of survivors of suicide loss. The Feigelman's son Jesse died by suicide in 2002 when he was 31 years old, and his parents are now dedicated to the cause of helping people bereaved by suicide.

The article tells of the Feigelman's advocacy on behalf of people who have lost a loved one to suicide, including their "mission to convince medical schools and continuing healthcare education programs to train doctors about the importance of reaching out to the newly bereaved and offer appropriate referrals."

They are also the authors of a recent book on suicide bereavement titled Devastating Losses: How Parents Cope with the Loss of a Child to Suicide or Drugs (with co-authors John Jordan and John McIntosh), which is based on data from the largest survey ever conducted of parents surviving a child's suicide or other traumatic death.


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U.S. PRACTITIONERS CALLED UPON TO IMPROVE SUICIDE GRIEF SUPPORT NATIONALLY

5/28/2012

 
Note: Anyone who works in the field of suicide grief support is invited to read the "Suicide Bereavement Caregivers Statement of Purpose" and comment on it here.

This Memorial Day -- in honor of all of who have died by suicide and those who mourn their loss -- a call to action, the "Suicide Bereavement Caregivers Statement of Purpose," is being delivered to grief practitioners across the United States, including
  • funeral professionals, 
  • clergy, 
  • law enforcement personnel, 
  • emergency medical services workers,
  • crisis workers, 
  • mental health practitioners, 
  • grief counselors, 
  • support group facilitators, 
  • educators, 
  • researchers, 
  • physicians, and 
  • military personnel.
Designed as a rallying cry "to make certain that people bereaved by suicide receive the help they need, when and where they need it, in ways that increase their capacity and opportunity to live full and fruitful lives," the Statement of Purpose outlines what it will take to establish strong suicide grief support services across the country: 
  • Suicide bereavement "programs, policies, and services" must be included in "a comprehensive national response to suicide."
  • Communities' postvention efforts must be strengthened through "collaboration among everyone with a stake in suicide bereavement services."
  • Community-based suicide grief support that is "accessible, proactive, age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, effective, and sustainable" must be implemented nationally.
  • Research must be pursued to develop "an evidence base for effective grief interventions and other tools" to help survivors of suicide loss.
  • The public must be educated through information that accurately depicts the causes of suicide and its impact on individuals, communities, and society.
The document was authored by practitioners who have spoken out for years on behalf of improved services for survivors, several of whom now serve on the Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which is a newly formed group with the following goal:
Develop consensus guidelines for the creation and implementation of effective, comprehensive support programs for survivors of suicide loss. The Guidelines will serve as a crystallizing benchmark for organizations, communities, states, and the nation for the development of a support infrastructure for survivors of suicide loss.

TWO SURVIVORS SHARE GRIEF JOURNEY IN CROSS-COUNTRY CYCLING TREK

5/17/2012

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I received an email recently from suicide bereavement support group facilitator Marcia Epstein about two remarkable young men who are biking across the country to bring attention to suicide's impact on individuals and communities. Marcia directs the Headquarters Counseling Center in Lawrence, Kansas, where local survivors had a potluck dinner for the cyclists.

Zachary Chipps and Thomas Brown met in 2009 as co-workers in an after-school youth recreation program in Scottsdale, Ariz., and discovered that each of them -- when they were 24 years old -- had lost their older brothers to suicide. Their common experience sparked their creativity (Zak is a drummer, Thomas is a video artist), and they formed R.I.S.E. (Revolution Inspired by Self Evolution) to organize the cross-country trek, which began in March at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
They will be using various forms of media, including blogging and in-depth video shorts, to connect more intimately with those who are participating and following their journey. While many have traveled by bike or foot across the country, and have blogged about their adventures, their planned extent of real-time video blogging will be unprecedented. Thomas will film the entire tour, providing a collective view of suicide, the ripple effect it can create in one’s life, family and community, and how “personal reflection and creative expression can be a catharsis to counter stressful ordeals."

Below are examples of the video clips Thomas and Zak are posting along the way, the first one features Thomas a few days after their journey began on the West Coast, and the second one features Zak more than two months later in eastern Kansas:


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