First off, I know that it has been quite a few days since my last official blog post. In that time, I was doing a few things: 1. taking a very much needed adapted week-long vacation and staycation, 2. starting to plan out future ideas for migrating my blogging to podcasting, 3. beginning a doctorate program, and 4. returning to work in-person five days per week. Now that I've hopefully got things more under wraps, I hope to get back to more frequent posts and then complete the process by transferring these discussions to the podcast world.
Now, to the real content for today's post...Make a Recommendation Monday. *Mental safety disclaimer** This post discusses suicide. Please read with caution and reach out to supports if the content brings on uncomfortable thoughts or feelings.
As you may know, September is National Suicide Prevention Month, this week (Sept 6 - Sept 12) is Suicide Prevention Week, and September 10 is Suicide Prevention Day. As with any topic or challenge facing our society, the importance of suicide prevention is always there, but dedicating months, weeks, and days specifically to that cause helps campaigns channel their efforts. Today's recommendations are a book and a movie, both of which focus on this topic of suicide and suicide prevention. The book's title is Cracked, Not Broken by Kevin Hines. The movie is called "Suicide: The Ripple Effect" directed and produced by Kevin Hines and Greg Dicharry.
Cracked, Not Broken
The book, Cracked, Not Broken is the true story of Kevin's history and ongoing experiences with mental illness. Kevin has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder with psychotic features.
A quick info guide on this diagnosis: bipolar disorder can involve extreme highs in mood
and energy, accompanied by feelings of extreme greatness or invincibility and
decreased impulse control. There can also be extreme lows in mood and energy,
described as depressive states. Psychotic features can include hearing voices
(hallucinations) or believing that a microchip was placed in your arm to control your
future (delusions).
Kevin details his life in the pages of his book with a candid and honest approach. You will read and gain insight to his own experiences and challenges, as well as how his family and others in his life were impacted. Some of you who may be familiar with Kevin Hines may know him as the person who jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge and survived. Kevin, like others who attempt to commit suicide, unfortunately has a history of more than one attempt. Kevin details his ongoing recovery from those attempts and his "brain pain" (as he calls it).
Finally, at the end of the book, Kevin offers a guide based on his own journey and the knowledge/professional insight of Dr. Daniel J. Reidenberg, Executive Director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). The guide, called "The Art of Living Mentally Well- Most Days", provides step by step help, as well as recommendations for measures that you and your supports can take to promote optimal health and safety.
Kevin's book is written from his perspective. It is not written by a clinician, a journalist, or a researcher, and therefore discusses an often untold story in everyday language. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand mental illness, society and mental healthcare, suicide, and mental illness recovery. It can also help those directly impacted by these topics feel not alone in their thoughts and feelings.
Suicide: The Ripple Effect
The documentary-type film is similar to the book mentioned above, but focuses more on the suicide attempt Kevin made on the Golden Gate Bridge and his recovery. Being a survivor, he is able to talk with others that were present that day, such as the people who rescued him from the water and bystanders. Kevin is able to get answers from them and provide the same to them. The film talks about hope and advocacy. Hope, you'll learn, takes on a new meaning when a certain animal in the water keeps him afloat. Advocacy, takes on the challenges of making the Golden Gate Bridge a safer place for all. You'll hear how bridge aesthetics are considered more important than saving lives to some.
Although an emotionally heavy film, the viewer hopefully will walk away feeling a sense of greater understanding on the topic and appreciation for having these type of discussions.
Check out the official trailer for the film here: https://youtu.be/LytKNC405oI
[Photo taken at Kevin Hines speaking event 2019]
[Left to right: Tiana (MH professional), Kevin Hines, Me, Kristen (MH professional)]
The "Hope" shirt is from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: https://stores.kotisdesign.com/afspexternal/apparel.
Suicide in the United States
One of the greatest challenges facing the U.S. with regard to suicide other than the actual loss of human lives is the tiptoe around and put behind closed doors approach to the topic as a whole. Mental illness is something that is stigmatized, or has a negative association in our society. Suicide is in this same boat, getting disguised in the headlines and obituaries as "passed away suddenly" or "unexpectedly". You may see more candid headlines, but from my experience, they tend to be ones that involve either high-profile people such as actors or CEO's where there is a "shock-value" to the story or ones that involve people who are incarcerated, where the person is already removed from society and therefore its taboo approach to suicide.
Suicide rates in the United States are on the rise, and have been for at least the past 11 years. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the rates of suicide in 2009 were 11.75 per 100,000 individuals. In 2018, the rates were 14.2 per 100,000.
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall in the United States and 2nd leading cause of death for those aged 10-34 (CDC, 2018). Approximately half of all suicides involved a firearm (CDC, 2018).
Suicide in the Criminal Justice System
All of those who are involved in the criminal justice system, whether they be professionals working in it or people who are incarcerated, show increased rates of suicide versus the general population. The rates in prisons for inmates is approximately 15 per 100,000 and those in jails is 46 per 100,000 (Chammah & Meagher, 2015). Remember, the national average in 2018 was 14.2 per 100,000, and in 2013, it was 12.57 (AFSP, 2020). The average suicide rate for correctional officers in Massachusetts between 2010 and 2015 was 105 per 100,000 (Frost, 2020). In 2019, there were 228 suicides of police officers reported (Barr, 2020). With approximately 686,000 full-time police officers in the United States, that would make the rate approximately 33.24 per 100,000 (Statista, 2019). Victims or survivors of crime are also at increased risk, with those surviving a rape being 13 times more likely to attempt suicide (Brownson, 2013).
Looking forward and Resources
As Kevin states in his book "I believe you can learn the signs of suicidal ideation and planning, so you can help yourself and those you love avoid pain and suffering." (Cracked, Not Broken p. 171). Familiarize yourself with these signs at https://afsp.org/risk-factors-and-warning-signs.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Copline: 1-800-267-5463 or visit copline.org
Blue H.E.L.P: bluehelp.org
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ suicide prevention): 1-866-488-7386 or visit thetrevorproject.org
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: afsp.org
Text Home to 741-741 for help.
Please feel free to connect and ask questions for more resources or other thoughts you may have. I hope you found this post to raise your awareness and spark conversations, as well as provide critical resources.
Sources:
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2020). Suicide facts and figures. American Foundation for Suicide. Based on CDC statistics 2018. https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics
Barr, L. (2020). Record number of US police officers died by suicide in 2019, advocacy group says. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/record-number-us-police-officers-died-suicide-2019/story?id=68031484.
Brownson, K. (2013) Networks for Life: Identifying and preventing suicide in post-sexual assault care. Youth suicide prevention program. https://www.wcsap.org/sites/default/files/uploads/webinars/Suicide_Intervention_Recording/Networks_for_Life_for_Sexual_Assault_Care.pdf.
Chammah, M. and Meagher, T. (2015). Why jails have more suicides than prisons. The Marshall Project. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/08/04/why-jails-have-more-suicides-than-prisons
Frost, N. (2020). Understanding the impacts of corrections officer suicide. National Institute of Justice. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/understanding-impacts-corrections-officer-suicide.
Statista. (2019). Number of law enforcement officers in the U.S. 2004-2018. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/191694/number-of-law-enforcement-officers-in-the-us/.