[Music]
what do we do for people who are
thinking about suicide
this is a question that I asked my
professor in a graduate school
psychology course I was 23 bright eyed
eager to learn but also terrified at the
idea of having to sit across the room
from someone in the future who was
thinking of taking their life I had seen
the client counselor interaction play
out on way too many movies TV shows but
I never really saw a positive outcome my
professor looked at me puzzled and asked
me to repeat the question so I did also
puzzled because I figured that question
couldn’t get any clearer what do we do
for people who were thinking about
suicide his response made me sink into
my seat if people are going to kill
themselves they’re gonna kill themselves
and he continued to lecture I thought to
myself how many other professionals in
the field share in this sentiment and
upon graduation and securing my very
first job I realized that there were
many professionals who held on to this
belief but not all it’s driving force
fear that fear is most likely due to
feeling unprepared researchers and
studies have shown us that 25% of social
workers in the field reported having any
formalized training and suicide
prevention yet 85% of the same social
workers reported working with clients
who are thinking about suicide regularly
what if they came across similar
professors that I had and similar
professionals in the field and how does
that impact their ability to care for
those in crisis with the current rates
that we have in suicide and the 2015
suicide deaths as being over 44,000 in
the US and with our youths as suicide
being the second leading cause of death
can we really afford to still maintain
this belief that we can’t intervene and
save a life absolutely not
we simply need a shift in the ways that
we think about suicide prevention into
one of continuous support our current
suicide prevention methods are good and
they’re more following along with them
immediate response emergency kind of
similar to CPR we recognize the risk
factors for suicide such as access to
lethal means or a previous suicide
attempt we recognize warning signs such
as making statements to end their life
or drastic changes and behaviors or mood
and then when we recognize those signs
we call for help now that might be a
mental health counselor it could be the
National Suicide Prevention lifeline or
in more serious cases the police to
implement what’s called a Baker Act now
a Baker Act is up to an initial 72-hour
hold in a crisis stabilization unit or a
hospital when someone is deemed to be at
risk of hurting themselves or someone
else 72 hours how many of us have been
in serious crisis situations that
magically resolved themselves in 72
hours
not many yet we still maintain this
belief that
we refer someone to help that their
problems just disappear unfortunately
that’s not the case in the medical field
anyone who has a major surgery or major
medical appointment has followed up with
by someone at the hospital to ensure
that they understand their treatment
their medication and they know and
understand the recovery process when our
pets get sick and we have to take them
to the vet someone from the vet’s office
is following up to ensure that little
Chauncey is still chugging along yet
when someone leaves our Baker acting
facilities are hospitals crisis
stabilization units no one is following
up when I worked on the crisis hotline
we were required to follow up with
people within 24 hours to ensure that
they were okay I remember vividly the
number of people on the other end of
that phone that would say you still
remember me and I would hear a smile
creep through as I said of course I do
when people leave our Baker acting
facilities they’re given a referral slip
to accounts they’re yes but then they go
home and they return to the same
circumstances that were occurring prior
to them going into the hospital so it’s
no surprise that one study shows us that
people leaving our hospital systems had
a high frequency of suicide within two
weeks post discharge with the highest
number occurring just one day after they
leave the hospital following up can help
with this there’s power and knowing that
someone still cares about you long after
your treatment and researchers get this
and they have been doing countless
studies on following up with people
leaving the hospital
one study in particular divided their
patience into two groups one group was
given a simple follow-up card in the
mail that said we’re thinking of you
give us a call if you need us we’re here
the other half did not receive anything
in the mail of the half that received
that simple follow-up card they saw a
significant reduction in the severity of
suicidality based on their rating scale
they also saw significant reduction in
readmissions to the hospital and
researchers have taken this a step
forward and a step further through
national grants and have implemented
what’s called care coordination and
they’ve been able to do that right here
in Central Florida in Lake County where
they have embedded what’s called care
coordinators into behavioral health
organizations this care coordinator does
follow-up yes
but they go above and beyond a simple
phone call or a card in the mail they
help that client navigate those tricky
resources in the community they help
them create what’s called a safety plan
and a safety plan is a document that the
client can create along with that
counselor of all of the people hobbies
interests that they have and other
options than attempting suicide but
above all else this care coordinator
serves as an additional layer of support
for someone who desperately deserves to
have someone in their corner having a
support system and a sense of purpose in
life is a protective factor for suicide
meaning that it decreases the risk if we
were all to make a list of the reasons
why we’re here today the reasons why
we’re alive we might have our family our
friends our hobbies our careers on that
list all of the components that make up
our sense of purpose
but for those who are thinking about
suicide a similar list would be very
daunting for them as they often believe
that nobody cares about them and they
don’t have a purpose here the last thing
that we want is for them to leave our
care our hospitals our crisis
stabilization units still feeling this
way and still feeling so alone I’ve used
the term we a lot today because we don’t
need to be in mental health or in
medical care to follow up with someone
to call them to invite them out for
lunch to show them that we care and
check in on their treatment so let’s
change our conversation from we can’t
save everyone to let me do the best that
I can with the people who are in my life
that I know are struggling and I know
need my support and my help care
coordination is the way to do this there
are a lot of wonderful grants out there
throughout the country that are doing
this right now but we can also play our
part as well follow-up show that you
care save lives thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
what do we do for people who are
thinking about suicide
this is a question that I asked my
professor in a graduate school
psychology course I was 23 bright eyed
eager to learn but also terrified at the
idea of having to sit across the room
from someone in the future who was
thinking of taking their life I had seen
the client counselor interaction play
out on way too many movies TV shows but
I never really saw a positive outcome my
professor looked at me puzzled and asked
me to repeat the question so I did also
puzzled because I figured that question
couldn’t get any clearer what do we do
for people who were thinking about
suicide his response made me sink into
my seat if people are going to kill
themselves they’re gonna kill themselves
and he continued to lecture I thought to
myself how many other professionals in
the field share in this sentiment and
upon graduation and securing my very
first job I realized that there were
many professionals who held on to this
belief but not all it’s driving force
fear that fear is most likely due to
feeling unprepared researchers and
studies have shown us that 25% of social
workers in the field reported having any
formalized training and suicide
prevention yet 85% of the same social
workers reported working with clients
who are thinking about suicide regularly
what if they came across similar
professors that I had and similar
professionals in the field and how does
that impact their ability to care for
those in crisis with the current rates
that we have in suicide and the 2015
suicide deaths as being over 44,000 in
the US and with our youths as suicide
being the second leading cause of death
can we really afford to still maintain
this belief that we can’t intervene and
save a life absolutely not
we simply need a shift in the ways that
we think about suicide prevention into
one of continuous support our current
suicide prevention methods are good and
they’re more following along with them
immediate response emergency kind of
similar to CPR we recognize the risk
factors for suicide such as access to
lethal means or a previous suicide
attempt we recognize warning signs such
as making statements to end their life
or drastic changes and behaviors or mood
and then when we recognize those signs
we call for help now that might be a
mental health counselor it could be the
National Suicide Prevention lifeline or
in more serious cases the police to
implement what’s called a Baker Act now
a Baker Act is up to an initial 72-hour
hold in a crisis stabilization unit or a
hospital when someone is deemed to be at
risk of hurting themselves or someone
else 72 hours how many of us have been
in serious crisis situations that
magically resolved themselves in 72
hours
not many yet we still maintain this
belief that
we refer someone to help that their
problems just disappear unfortunately
that’s not the case in the medical field
anyone who has a major surgery or major
medical appointment has followed up with
by someone at the hospital to ensure
that they understand their treatment
their medication and they know and
understand the recovery process when our
pets get sick and we have to take them
to the vet someone from the vet’s office
is following up to ensure that little
Chauncey is still chugging along yet
when someone leaves our Baker acting
facilities are hospitals crisis
stabilization units no one is following
up when I worked on the crisis hotline
we were required to follow up with
people within 24 hours to ensure that
they were okay I remember vividly the
number of people on the other end of
that phone that would say you still
remember me and I would hear a smile
creep through as I said of course I do
when people leave our Baker acting
facilities they’re given a referral slip
to accounts they’re yes but then they go
home and they return to the same
circumstances that were occurring prior
to them going into the hospital so it’s
no surprise that one study shows us that
people leaving our hospital systems had
a high frequency of suicide within two
weeks post discharge with the highest
number occurring just one day after they
leave the hospital following up can help
with this there’s power and knowing that
someone still cares about you long after
your treatment and researchers get this
and they have been doing countless
studies on following up with people
leaving the hospital
one study in particular divided their
patience into two groups one group was
given a simple follow-up card in the
mail that said we’re thinking of you
give us a call if you need us we’re here
the other half did not receive anything
in the mail of the half that received
that simple follow-up card they saw a
significant reduction in the severity of
suicidality based on their rating scale
they also saw significant reduction in
readmissions to the hospital and
researchers have taken this a step
forward and a step further through
national grants and have implemented
what’s called care coordination and
they’ve been able to do that right here
in Central Florida in Lake County where
they have embedded what’s called care
coordinators into behavioral health
organizations this care coordinator does
follow-up yes
but they go above and beyond a simple
phone call or a card in the mail they
help that client navigate those tricky
resources in the community they help
them create what’s called a safety plan
and a safety plan is a document that the
client can create along with that
counselor of all of the people hobbies
interests that they have and other
options than attempting suicide but
above all else this care coordinator
serves as an additional layer of support
for someone who desperately deserves to
have someone in their corner having a
support system and a sense of purpose in
life is a protective factor for suicide
meaning that it decreases the risk if we
were all to make a list of the reasons
why we’re here today the reasons why
we’re alive we might have our family our
friends our hobbies our careers on that
list all of the components that make up
our sense of purpose
but for those who are thinking about
suicide a similar list would be very
daunting for them as they often believe
that nobody cares about them and they
don’t have a purpose here the last thing
that we want is for them to leave our
care our hospitals our crisis
stabilization units still feeling this
way and still feeling so alone I’ve used
the term we a lot today because we don’t
need to be in mental health or in
medical care to follow up with someone
to call them to invite them out for
lunch to show them that we care and
check in on their treatment so let’s
change our conversation from we can’t
save everyone to let me do the best that
I can with the people who are in my life
that I know are struggling and I know
need my support and my help care
coordination is the way to do this there
are a lot of wonderful grants out there
throughout the country that are doing
this right now but we can also play our
part as well follow-up show that you
care save lives thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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