Part One - Suicide Prevention Workshop at Warminster Hospital - Click on bottom link to read Part Two

Was on my way home from the excellent workshop and stopped at a drugstore to buy popcorn.

"Anybody home?" I yelled inside the huge empty store. Then I walked around and selected

"Janie" arrived behind the counter. She was a young attractive woman.

"I just came from a lecture," I told her, "and will blog about it. I need my popcorn to sustain me."

"What was the lecture about?"

"Suicide prevention," I beamed.

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what she would say.

Yes, bipolar d/o and depression are rampant in her family. 

That's all I'll say to protect her confidentiality.

Our presenter was Deb Ryan. She and her husband recently went to London, in honor of his 50th birthday, and ate at the famous Sticky Fingers restaurant.


 I'd imagine the restaurant refers to the Rolling Stones logo. 

Deb Ryan of Penn Foundation is one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met about suicide. "I have a unique perspective," she said. She's been working in the prevention field for 28 years and recently lost a dear friend to suicide.

They say, said Deb, that suicide impacts 6 people, but the number is really far greater.

"I'm passionate about getting out there and starting a conversation about it," she said. Not just at hospitals or agencies but other places as well.

STATISTICS PLEASE... just a few...



In 2012, over 40,000 people took their own lives... once every 12.9 minutes

Firearms are the main way they do it.... mostly men

Tenth leading cause of death in people 45 - 95 years old.

Whew! My Aunt Selma and my friend Walter Straus escaped the statistics. They're both 96.

MYTH: Talking about suicide may give someone an idea to do it.
Wrong! It may be very helpful.

MYTH: People who talk about it won't do it.

Wrong! If you suspect they're suicidal - Deb trusts her gut feeling - get them to a professional to be assessed.

MYTH: If a person is intent on suicide, there's nothing you can do about it.

Wrong! A research study was done where cameras were set up on bridges to monitor potential jumpers. One powerful video showed a man climbing over the railing and stepping onto a platform getting ready to jump.

He stopped himself. He simply couldn't do it, no matter how much agony he was in.

Deb Ryan was impressed when I used the word 'agony' b/c that's the closest term I could think of to describe what it feels like when you want to kill yourself.

In the year 2001, New Directions got our first grant. From the Patricia Kind Family Foundation. A check with an enormous amount of money arrived in the mailbox.




I couldn't care less! All I wanted was to die. My psychiatrist had yanked me off lithium, a known antisuicidal agent, instead of weaning me off, and I was suicidal nearly two whole years.

Finally, I told the group at Warminster Hospital, I could stand it no more. I picked up a pen and began to write a note to my two children.

The pen fell out of my hand. I simply could not do it. But what I learned from that horrible experience has helped me guide people along a healing path.

WARNING SIGNS

The slides Deb showed were excellent.

Risk factors are

- Talking about suicide
- I feel like I'm a burden to people
- I have no reason to live
- People would be better off w/o me.
- I feel trapped.
- I'm in unbearable pain.

Deb has spoken to people in the ER who are in chronic pain - high risk - such as the mother of several children who can't cheer her children on at a soccer game b/c her pain is so intense.

The Penn Foundation offers several suicide support groups..... for chronic pain... for adults.... for the elderly.

Don't breathe a word, but I'm in the elderly category.

I dressed as warmly as possible before I left for the program. I never wear jeans b/c they're too uncomfortable but these used Calvin Kleins from Ellen Rosenberg atop my PJ bottoms did the trick.

Deb Ryan made the talk come alive by telling anecdotes about suicidal individuals she had met. And since she's been in the biz for 28 years there are thousands upon thousands of people she's helped.

Financial reasons. One man during the mortgage crisis we faced lost his job and then his house. He had no money to send his daughter to college. He decided to take his own life but make it look like an accident so his daughter could have the $10,000 life insurance.

Sure, this is a pretty dire situation. But is it worth killing yourself for?

Deb said that what is 'awful' for someone is a matter of perception. It may not be awful for another. And by reframing the situation the person may change their point of view.

At Penn Foundation, medication is the last resort. You are set up with community supports.... people you can share your stories with including fellow suicidal people and counselors. Talking about it really helps.

MOOD

- Snapping at little things
- Loss of interest
- Rage
- Humiliation
- Anxiety
- Relying on alcohol or pot to stop your depression

BEHAVIOR, excerpts

- Stockpiling meds
- Internet searches to learn about methods
- Acting recklessly
- Call or visit relatives to say goodbye - Our Tony did this

Now this is very interesting.



Let's say you live in an old age home.

Your spouse has just died leaving a bevy of pills behind.

In a moment of great sorrow and despair, the spouse may down the pills.

Remove them before this happens.

RISK FACTORS

Stressful life events and prolonged stress
PTSD from returning war veterans
Loss - job loss, loved one, death of pet
Addiction - to popcorn, ya think?
Previous attempts OR exposure to attempts
Family history

This is esp. prevalent, Deb said, at high schools.

Training programs at schools are now in effect to speak to teachers and nurses, describing signs and symptoms.

CHILDREN and ADOLESCENT SUICIDAL RISKS

Bullying - harassing - humiliating - taunting on social media
Pawn between two parents
Sexual or physical abuse

ELDERLY

Our Elderly Blogger on the beach in Ocean City, NJ

Loss of role in family
Moving from home to a facility
Loss of spouse or pet

Bucks County Commissioner Diane M Ellis-Marseglia, LCSW, lost a daughter to suicide, said Deb Ryan.

She's very open about it.

On Feb. 12, Diane and other commissioners were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the SEPTA train station in Langhorne to display the National Suicide Prevention Hotline sign. Call 800 273 TALK.



Every station in Bucks, Montco and Philly will have these signs.

The Inquirer:  From 2003 to 2012, 111 people died on SEPTA rails. Seventy-four died on the regional-rail system, 27 on the subways and 10 on trolley lines - 41 were confirmed suicides.

So far this year, there have been eight rail deaths, including two suicides, compared with six in the first quarter of 2012.

Imagine the horror, said Deb Ryan, of witnessing a suicide death by train, esp. if you're the engineer driving it.

Since some elderly at at risk for suicide, the Bucks County Suicide Task Force, which includes clergy, thought of a creative way to prevent suicide.

When a Meals on Wheels helper comes out to the house, they give the Eater a Suicide Prevention Card.

If I wasn't so tired, I'd photograph the one I brought home from the program.

"Mme. Bovery," says the Meals on Wheeler, "if you know anyone who may be contemplating taking her own life, please give them this card."

Actually it was meant for Emma Bovary herself. But you know the rest of the story, as written by
Thanks, Uncle Gus, I'll try to follow your advice.

I think I'll stop here - there's lots more info, but I'm not being graded on this -  and then I'll go upstairs on my exercise bike and watch Tavis Smiley.

Hold your horses. I haven't even downloaded my photos.

But as the lady said

Tomorrow is another day.

CLICK HERE TO READ  P A R T   T W O  OF SUICIDE PREVENTION