Author Archives: Sally Spencer Thomas
Understanding the Suicidal Mind
Suicide is a mysterious enigma that challenges most people on many levels. One of the biggest aspects of the challenge is that we can never ask the person who died, “Why?” We can only infer from notes left behind, snippets of last conversations, and changes in behavior. The question of “why” often haunts the minds …
Top 10 Ways to Make Mental Health Awareness Campaigns Effective
1. Normalize struggle safely One goal for many mental health campaigns is to let people know they are not alone. When mental illnesses and suicidal crises strike, people often suffer in silence. By letting people know that others have lived through similar challenges, campaigns can offer hope and community. Pain shared is pain lessened. The …
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Make Suicide Prevention a Health and Safety Priority
On July 1, 2016, the CDC released its report on occupation and suicide for many employers. For the first time, researchers were able to rank industries by deaths by suicide. This milestone report immediately got the attention of risk managers concerned about the health of their workers. Below is a summary of the CDC’s findings.
6 Things Workplaces Can Do to Prevent Suicide
Members of executive leadership can take bold and visible positions declaring suicide prevention and mental health promotion critical workplace concerns. This proclamation can be in the form of a newsletter to employees or a video on a website. There is sample proclamation language within this National Suicide Prevention Week Toolkit from the American Association of Suicidology; for …
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