Understanding suicide & how to help
A panel of mental health professionals discuss the warning of suicide ideation in children, teens and adults as well as the BIPOC community and transgender community. The panel also discusses what to do and how to help.
Transcript
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 14. [SOMBER MUSIC]
How do we even approach this issue? What do we need to be saying or doing for our young people? What do you do in your own work to kind of help deal with this
as well? It's always shocking when I come in to work and I read the story. And I say, oh, my god, a 10-year-old did what?
You know, and even though I'm trained in this and fellowship and board-certified and expertly trained, it still shocks you, right?
There's a misconception that asking someone if they're having suicidal thoughts will increase the likelihood of them completing suicide.
And I need to debunk that myth right now because that's not true. Asking someone if they feel as though they
want to end their life is not going to increase the likelihood of them completing suicide. As a matter of fact, the saying is that asking someone
is statistically more likely to save a life than to cause a suicide.
So, better to ask. One of the things that we find so often is that people are afraid to ask,
like Dr. Dom was speaking about. One is they're afraid of the answer. And two, they don't know what to say after they get the answer.
And so it's not-- it is about breaking the stigma and saying the words for somebody else. That's such a crucial part of it.
But if you're the person that is concerned about somebody else, you want to take care of yourself. And it's scary.
It is scary to think that somebody that you love or that you know may want to hurt themselves or kill themselves.
There are hotlines that you can call. 988 is one that has a wide variety of resources
and ability to ask, whether it's you that's feeling it or you're asking on behalf of somebody else. There are websites from the National Suicide networks
and institutions that can help you to find resources in your area. You can talk to therapists or other mental health providers
and ask them for a consult. There really are some quality articles and advice out there that can
be helpful in supporting you to help destigmatize the questions and getting support for someone else.
I think that there's been a rise in suicidality in Black and Brown communities over the pandemic.
And we are least likely to ask for help in that traditional way.
And so I think making it less of a stigma in our own communities to ask about it, to ask about health--
mental health-- is really important here, as well. [AUDIO LOGO]
mental health behavior
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