September 10th, 2022 - WHO World Suicide Prevention Day and the personal and business implications within US healthcare

Written by: Kevin Duarte, LMSW, MBA

??Warning on this post – I will be discussing suicide as September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day.

If this is a raw or sensitive subject to you, please pass on my post and find the many other wonderful content creators out there speaking to something more appropriate for you at this time.?

If you need help due to thoughts of suicide or harming yourself or others, please know that help is available - Call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or access your local community support system.?

Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you’d like me to help you connect with local resources though understand that I am not a crisis line and may not be able to respond immediately or at all and cannot provide any form of treatment.

?Today's post:

One of the most profound, life-altering conversations you will ever have with another individual is if and when you talk about #suicide, and specifically, #suicideprevention and #suicideawareness .

?The World Health Organization estimates that globally, 1 out of every 100 deaths are caused by suicide.?That’s 703,000 individuals every year dying by suicide – which is a potentially very preventable death.?20x more individuals, however, are thought to have attempted suicide in the general population.?In our more vulnerable communities, these numbers become even more grim.?

For instance:

???The “… The Trevor Project estimates that at least one #lgbtqia youth between the ages of 13–24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the U.S.”?

???Children with #autism see rates of suicide “…more than 3 times higher among individuals with autism for both suicide attempts and deaths, with significantly higher rates compared with the general population across all age ranges, beginning from age 10 years” and is even more alarming for girls with autism... Autism Speaks may be a wonderful organization through which to learn more

???Looking at the chart above, you can see that #nativeamerican , #asian and Mixed Race individuals are at extremely high risk compared to their peers for suicidality

?This. Is.?A. CRISIS.

?I don’t know about you, but, as a professional in #healthcare and, more importantly, a father of children in these populations, these numbers keep me up at night.

?As a social worker, when I was in the field, I had the solemn privilege of directly supporting many individuals who had been in a crisis themselves or recovering from one.?The faces of many people who were at the point of losing their fight with thoughts of suicide and were accepting an avoidable but what they felt at the time to be an all-consuming end are forever etched into my own mind. What's also etched into it though, are their faces as you look into these weary individual's eyes to help guide them back to safety and hope.

I wish could say I remembered every circumstance.?Many I do; some I take great solace in, however, some still haunt me.?

Unfortunately, though, there have been too many for me to recall all of those conversations and circumstances.?What I can say though, is that each one maybe didn’t make everything better for the individual, but, it certainly made the immediate situation better.?And further, each one changed my own perception of what it meant to be #compassionate.

?This conversation permeates the humanity of us all and drives everyone to want to help.?I know many individuals who aren’t from a clinical background who want to help as well but maybe don’t have the same understanding or confidence in being able to be of support.?

And that’s okay!?

I’m so glad you’re here ? - let me break down some numbers to help you build urgency to your teams:

https://workplacementalhealth.org/mental-health-topics/suicide-prevention/how-to-effectively-invest-in-suicide-prevention ??

???20% of the American workforce suffer from some Mental Illness or Substance Use Disorder??

???Roughly once every 15 minutes someone will die by suicide – that someone could very well be a member of your organization

???Across the US, lost earnings from suicide cost workplaces $1.3 Billion dollars a year

????For every Suicide prevented “an average of $1,182,559 is saved, including $3,875 in medical expenses and $1,178,684 in lost productivity.”

?Whether you’re reaching out to help someone who may be or is struggling with their mental health or reaching out to be helped with your mental health struggles, it’s impossible to walk away from the discussion without some change occurring. And so it's helpful to have the options understood beforehand as I'll try to show here.

?It’s not easy, nor is it comfortable, and while you wouldn’t want to move right into addressing crisis scenarios without significant and proper trainings as well as the desire to do so, there are other ways that anyone can help to #stopthestigma around mental health and suicide.

?Here are some resources to help you familiarize yourself with ways to support the conversation:

??? In a crisis or know someone who is??Call the 988 number for the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Lifeline - https://988lifeline.org/promote-national-suicide-prevention-month/?- Support may be national or may be routed locally through a Mental Health crisis line in your area operated by your local safety net providers such as a #CommunityMentalHealthCenter or #FederallyQualifiedHealthCenter – for my area the go-to is Johnson County Mental Health Center - https://www.jocogov.org/988 - what’s yours?

?#BeThe1To

??????? Most jobs have an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) that typically offer some kind of Mental Health support.?Whether you’re letting a friend know they can potentially access the service or a leader encouraging your staff to take care of their well-being through it, it can be one of your best tools and allies within the workplace.?Especially if you build a #culture of trust and talk openly and productively about topics like mental health on your teams.??????

???????????@AmericanFoundationforSuicidePrevention walks you through loss of others who’ve died by suicide, understanding how to help others at risk for suicide, ways to help policies prevention suicide and learning how to make a difference in the life of someone struggling with their mental health - https://afsp.org/

?????????Learn about the @WorldHealthOrganization’s (WHO) Suicide Prevention Day 2022 - https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-suicide-prevention-day/2022????????

?????????Have you experienced and successfully navigated mental health struggles of your own and just want to lend a compassionate ear to someone in a non-crisis situation??Try supporting Mental Health America of the Heartland’s Compassionate Ear Warmline or a service like it in your area - https://mhah.org/advocacy-and-recovery/

????????????Want to learn about the White House’s approach to Suicide prevention??https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/09/09/a-proclamation-on-world-suicide-prevention-day-2022/???????

??????????Learn about suicide in LGBTQ+ Youth through the Trevor Project - https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/estimate-of-how-often-lgbtq-youth-attempt-suicide-in-the-u-s/

???????????Autism and suicide risk- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774847??????

?????????Looking for stats on race and suicide??Try the Suicide Prevention Resource Center https://sprc.org/scope/racial-ethnic-disparities

?????????Looking for efforts toward eliminating suicide??Try Zero Reasons Why

I will end with this final thought: You are uniquely positioned to do something about the topic of Suicide that others may not be.?It doesn’t have to some big contribution to policy, it could be some more local like lending a compassionate ear to someone who needs it or building a culture of trust in your organization. You may help to solve one individual's need for a resource or you could aid in your company's effort to expand EAP access and drive down costs due to lost productivity/emplyoee enagement. Whatever you do,?please just keep the conversation going and learn continually!

#CompassionisCompetitive