Suicide Prevention Support Group Analysis

In the United States, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 10 to 14-year-olds (CDC, 2015) and for 15 to 19-year-olds (Friedman, 2008). In 2013, 17.0% of students grades 9 to 12 in the United States seriously thought about committing suicide, 13.6% made a suicide plan, 8.0% attempted suicide, and 2.7% attempted suicide in which required medical attention (CDC, 2015). These alarming statistics show that there is something wrong with the way mental illness is handled in today’s society. Also, approximately 21% of all teenagers have a treatable mental illness (Friedman, 2008), although 60% do not receive the help that they need (Horowitz, Ballard, & Pao, 2009).

I finally started my first year of college at Miami Dade College in January 2014. During my adaptation to the new educational system, my Abnormal Psychology class professor mentioned how important it would be to participate in an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. I consider this to be very useful in today’s society where many individuals suffer from depression.

Healthy People 2020 is a government site that identifies health concerns based on statistics observed and collected over a ten-year period. Mental Health and Mental Disorders is one of the many health concerns or topics listed on their website and has been further subcategorized into objectives and goals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2015). The first objective listed under this topic states “reduce the suicide rate” (HHS, 2015). The goal of this objective is to “reduce the suicide rate by ten percent” (HHS, 2015). Suicide is prevalent among varying age groups, ethnicities, and genders (HHS, 2012). It is an increasing problem prompting Healthy People 2020 to label it as a Leading Health Indicator or an extremely important issue (HHS, 2015). To meet their goal, Healthy People 2020 partnered with the U. S. Surgeon General and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (NAASP) to create a plan that can be utilized throughout the nation. Their plan focuses on removing the stigma associated with mental health and mental health disorders while simultaneously building supportive communities with increased access to care, creating a standardized model promoting the collaboration of health care professionals in order to increase identification and data collection of high-risk patients and provide continuity of care, and ensuring the education and the adequacy of patient support systems.

The next educational effort would be the students at all schools with the focus on “health risks and nutrition and knowing what suicide looks like” in your friends or family. During education, the health maintenance and grief resource center would be initiated with location information given to all clinics, dentists, mental health counselors, schools, local hospitals, and churches. This approach to community assessment allows the PHN the understanding of historical trauma, sociocultural, and economic contexts and meaning to create partnerships with individuals, families, groups and communities promoting improved overall health and mental health (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2016). The focus of this program would center around Lake County Montana with adolescent and younger children at the forefront. Outreach, follow-up, and counseling is an impediment to improvement and stabilization for the mental health individual, which could be a risk factor for suicide and other health-related concerns. To assist with this goal, a grant will be required to cover financial needs. For example, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Research Grants awards monies from 30,000 to 1.5 million for suicide prevention, in 2015 they awarded 17 grantees for studies and programs to prevent suicide (afsp.org). These dollars will assist

Another prominent grant was the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. This grant centers around the goal of reducing suicides and suicidal tendencies through increasing training and resources for states, tribes and

The bottom was characterize as a large black neighborhood in Ohio, that stood above the hill of Medallion was a predominately white wealthy community. Before it was call the Bottom, now they call it the suburbs. Consequently, a good slave master promised freedom and piece of land if the slave perform difficult chores, when they finish the work he was hastens about giving away valley land he hope to give away piece of the bottom. However, the slave thought the valley land was the bottom, the master told them when God look down, it's the bottom, it the bottom of heaven best land there is. And they agree to it, And it was done. Shadrack was a citizen of the bottom, he fought in WWI, return back as a damaged man that couldn't cope with reality of what was happening in the world, his mental state of mind was unstable he live around the border of the town to find harmony in his life.

My area of specialization will be on individuals and families that are suffering from depression, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and are in risk of suicide. There is a strong link between depression, PTSD and suicide (PTSD: National Center for PTSD, n.d.). According to William (2012), 90% of individuals who commit suicide suffered from some type of mental illness. Many individuals who suffer from depression and have not been treated are at high risk of committing suicide (Caruso, n.d.). According to Caruso (n.d.), the number one cause of suicide is depression. According to Sher, Braquehais, and Casas (2012), “suicide can be viewed as a process that begins with suicidal ideation, followed by planning and then by a suicidal act, and suicidal ideation can be prompted by depression and PTSD” (p. 92). Moreover, “the coexistence of PTSD and depression increases the risk of suicidal ideation more than PTSD or depression alone. Therefore, I will be developing a depression mutual aid group using Psychoeducational and CBT models to educate and to help consumers supporting one another with issues related to depression, PTSD and suicide.

In addition, for patients who are being treated for mental health problems or for those patients who I may suspect as being suicidal, I can work on gradually leading the patient to talk about their suicidality in order to get them to open up and gain their trust (Bryan & Rudd, 2006). For patients who have show suicidal thoughts or ideation in the past, I will work on treating the suicide as the behavior to change instead of focusing just on any comorbid mental health disorders (M. Class 4/10). I will focus on getting to know my patients better and the factors that have lead them to where they are in life. In order to help them the most, I will need to know their drivers and in order to do that, I will need to build rapport with them, so that they share with me. We will also work to build their coping skills, because I know how hard it can be to figure out coping mechanisms on your own especially when you are dealing with a crisis (M. Class

Suicide has always been looked down upon and people would do just about everything in their willpower to prevent it. There are plenty methods to avert people from committing suicide such as the suicide health prevention hotline, support groups, friends, and family. However, all these methods are not as resourceful when the person is already dying. And, if the one who wants to commit suicide is lying in their death bed enduring an excruciating pain, then do the people who oppose suicide have the right to intervene with the dying person’s last wishes? Physician-assisted suicide is a practice where doctors decide to help end their hopelessly ill patient’s life painlessly even if he or she requests for it (Assisted Suicide). If doctors do follow the patient’s desired death, then are the doctors sending subliminal message saying these patients’ lives are now meaningless. Many believe the doctors treating the patients do not have the right to take lives instead save them, which leads to the religious factor in this situation. They believe the only way someone can be taken from this world is through the hands of God and any other way is simply wrong and immoral. Death is a delicate topic many try to ignore for however long they are able to. Humans have a very difficult time coping with the death of a loved one, so it is much harder for the friends and family to accept than the terminally ill. Although physician-assisted suicide permanently relieves the pain of a dying patient, PAS

Lost and unsure who to turn to, Jamie joined an advocacy group for depression, self-harm, addiction, and suicide prevention at her university. At the first meeting she attended to, an 18-year-old girl spoke up and shared her experiences with

Dyads are activities where members of a group are paired together to discuss/solve problems or complete a specific task. This tool is use to increase comfort, provide fun, and provide different learning experiences (p. 220). Group leaders must plan and establish structure before conducting dyads. According to Jacobs et al. (2012), “group leaders need to know when to use dyads, how to pair up members, and the length of time dyads should last” (p. 210). Leaders/facilitators should use dyads in their first group session as a team building skill.

One of the most provocative and powerful ways of treating depression is through picking up the phone and calling a hotline.

As an admitting clinician, I will assess Daphne’s risk of suicide using the suicide risk assessment form. Risk assessment will form a basis of development of safety intervention plans hence promoting positive health outcomes for the patient. Daphne is at high risk of suicide due to her history of major depression, suicide attempt, alcohol misuse, feelings of hopelessness and the loss of her husband. These determinants form part of the risk assessment tool and their presence indicate a high suicide risk level. Supporting this notion, studies (Stein & Ursano 2013; O'Hare, Shen & Sherrer, 2014) found that depression, alcohol use problems ,family history of suicide, having suffered from severe depression and hopelessness, experienced family

The advantages of having a suicide prevention group are outstanding and abundant. The main advantage is being able to seek help when you need it. The prevention group reduces the feeling of being alone. The feeling of being alone during the darkest time may never go away. Nevertheless, joining in a group therapy or receiving the help, will help by giving you a sense of belonging and huge step for helping yourself. The group will give you a place that you can be yourself and express yourself the way you want. No one in that group will judge you as they all know the same pain that you go through.

Three people in my life have completed suicide; my uncle, my mom’s late fiance, and my step brother on my dad’s side, within four years of each other. I’ve witnessed each parental figure in my life become compromised by grief and the inevitable pain accompanying it, and I’ve seen the way depression can plague someone so deeply, even without the ending of suicide. The prevalence and growing numbers of deaths by suicide calls for a revised manner of education on all mental illnesses and the preventative measures one can take to reduce risk. Initially, when I heard of the Suicide Prevention Week Keynote event with Jamie Tworkowski (founder of ‘To Write Love On Her Arms’) I was thrilled. Hosting such an event on a college campus, presenting to a population greatly affected by mental illness, is demonstrative of the steps that should be taken toward raising awareness. Any opportunity for a comprehensive view on mental health and its significance is one to be taken advantage of. However, as the night proceeded, I did take note of several things that would improve the layout of any future events, as well as further deepen an individual’s comprehension of mental illness.