Discussions about suicide and its prevention ideally start with “hope,” as hope is part of what powers preventing suicide. In 2022, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) reported that suicide rates fell 9% for ages 15-24, which accounts for many of our students and younger staff. Hopeful news!:
What campuses do to prevent suicide typically ties into three areas:
Prevention
Intervention
Postvention
Suicide prevention are actions taken before someone considers suicide. Prevention efforts include such things as public awareness and informational campaigns, suicide awareness days, and social actions around access to means. Such initiatives as #BeThe1To, Fresh Check Day, and Talk Away the Dark are examples of national suicide prevention efforts, all of which can be done locally. Some campuses have taken comprehensive approaches to suicide prevention including the University of Connecticut, Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan. While these are large public campuses, there are many parts to their initiatives from which any of our campuses could learn.
Suicide interventions are efforts to engage someone who is having suicidal ideation and/or intent to assist them in reconnecting with life, if only for the current moment. Interventions span a wide continuum. Intervention includes “suicide first aid” which everyone can learn and provide on their campus. Intervention also includes higher levels of care such as inpatient hospitalization. Suicide first aid training programs include those mentioned in the last issue of The CampUS.
Suicide postvention are efforts after a suicide for those remaining in the aftermath. Postvention can be conducted for those with close relationships to the person who died by suicide. Postvention efforts can also be conducted with larger communities which can also be impacted when a person dies by suicide, e.g. small town, workplace, school, or organization. Postvention reduces suicide “contagion” which is the increase in suicides and mental health downturns that can follow suicides. These efforts are directed at helping those impacted to debrief their experience, help them understand the impact of complex grief, and help connect to ongoing support.
There are many postvention guides to assist individuals and communities in need. Of the three levels, prevention can seem the easier approach as it is informational, public service-oriented, and event-focused. Involvement with either intervention or postvention can become the more difficult approach. These two levels of care can leave many worried about being in over one’s head and worried about how high the stakes may feel due to risk associated with suicide. Some critical things to keep in mind:
People with thoughts of suicide often have such thoughts due to loss and pain. As such, the person with thoughts of suicide often needs to connect, to tell their story of pain, and to be seen and validated in their story.
People with thoughts of suicide are often ambivalent about their thoughts. Connecting with someone with thoughts of suicide provides opportunity to help positively tip ambivalence to a commitment to living.
The more lethal aspects of suicidal thinking are its secrecy, shame, and stigma. Asking about it, talking about it, and connecting about it can help disarm these lethalities.
Communities impacted by suicide are also experiencing loss and pain and as such, also may desire to be acknowledged, talked to, and supported.
Suicidality does not fall uniformly across all people. Identities make a difference. The reasons that motivate suicidal thinking vary. There are many differences, based on identity, that occur in terms of methods of suicide, reasons for suicide, and protective and risk factors that either increase or reduce suicide. Keeping this in mind is critical in how we message during prevention efforts, the inquiries we make and care we show when engaging in intervention, and the methods we use when engaging in postvention.
Our efforts to prevent suicide are various and we can all have a hand in it. Our campuses are special places to engage in suicide prevention as we work to connect people to life while at the same time teaching others.
We started with hope and let’s end with hope:
“This life. This night. Your story. Your pain. Your hope. It matters. All of it matters.” — Jamie Tworkowski