September Message from the Directors: Suicide Prevention Month
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September is Suicide Prevention Month, and the CCTS is working to help prevent suicide and to reduce its far-reaching impacts.
Suicide has received increasing national attention in the past few years, partly as a result of both a number of well-publicized celebrity suicides and more local attention with media focus on suicides among the police force. Suicide cuts across all age, gender, and social status groups. It is a leading cause of death (in the top 10) for ages 10-64.
Suicide prevention, and more general, mental health promotion efforts, are increasingly needed, and in modalities and ways that can reach broad audiences. Our Community Engagement Core has been in the forefront of promoting disseminable, high-reach preventive services that meet people where they are at, and that may have the potential to prevent negative outcomes well before they develop. The Core, led by Dr. Marc Atkins, has been working with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a key player in leading efforts to prevent suicide, to help evaluate some of their efforts and to identify additional training needs.
A common link across suicides is depression, along with a sense of social isolation and hopelessness. There are effective strategies to prevent suicide but implementing these approaches in vulnerable populations is still a challenge that our researchers can work to overcome, especially with community-based partnerships and effective communication strategies.
Everyone, not just those most vulnerable to suicide, can benefit from general mental health promotion strategies that reduce depressive symptoms. Some everyday ones for us all to work towards: increase your daily pleasant activities! These can be relatively simple things that bring you pleasure – a relaxing moment; a time to reach out and connect with someone you enjoy talking to; doing something that gives you a sense of mastery or accomplishment; or just a few minutes of a fun activity. These are effective mood boosters for us all to work on increasing!
Remember: You are not alone.