If you work in the field of behavioral health, you are exposed to concepts about suicide. If you are a mental health clinician, you have likely witnessed the struggle of a patient with suicidal thoughts; perhaps you have experienced the loss of a patient to suicide.
Whether or not you work in healthcare, you may have lost a friend or family member to suicide. There are few feelings which match the helplessness one experiences after such a death. . . .the fear of possible responsibility and the sense of regret.
This is Suicide Prevention Week, September 6 – 12, 2015. If you know someone who needs help, reach out to them. You may save a life.
The American Psychological Association (APA) posts an article on their site aimed at helping you help someone else in an emotional crisis. Thanks to Jacqueline Gray, PhD, and Lynn Bufka, PhD, for contributing to this article, and to the APA for their willingness to share it. The APA receives credit for the article.
Thanks also to our longtime customers, Dr. Bob Wernick and Dr. Ellie Nelson-Wernick at Behavioral Health Institute in Coral Springs, FL for sharing this information in their BHI newsletter. They motivated me to do the same.
