A Safe Place
Tomorrow, November 19th 2016, is National Survivors Day sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). The purpose behind National Survivors Day is to provide a safe place for those who have experienced a loss of a loved one or a friend to suicide to come and share their experiences with other survivors in hope healing and education. According to the data for 2014 from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 117 people die each day from suicide. For every one suicide that is carried through to completion there are twenty-five attempts that fail…which means almost 3000 people a day try and do bodily harm to themselves! Women are three times more likely to attempt suicide but males lead all groups in committing this sad act. Males, especially white males have a suicide rate 3.5 times higher than any other group. Suicide is ranked tenth as the leading cause of death across all populations in the United States as over 42,000 Americans die at their own hand every year. Why?
The leading cause of suicide is mental illness and the number one mental illness that contributes to suicide is depression. Another leading reason for suicide, especially with teens and young adults, is bullying. Being the butt of cruel jokes and relentless teasing can cause feelings of hopelessness and despair which for some kids is just too much and they seek to end their lives because they don’t see a way out…they lose hope and because they see no other way out they choose to kill themselves rather than face the daily pain inflicted by others. For the survivors who are left behind, there are painful questions that often linger as survivor’s guilt can sometimes create unbearable grief. Survivors Day is for people to come together in a safe place to help heal the wounds left by the horrible act of suicide. If you’re not sure where to go to find a community that has an event planned for this even, you can visit the website of AFSPhttps://afsp.org/find-support/ive-lost-someone/survivor-day/#section0 and enter your state in the blue search box in order to find the closest support even to your home. If you’re in the Southeast of Indiana like me, the closest choices are going to be either Cincinnati, Ohio or Indianapolis, IN. Suicide affects us all in direct or indirect ways and can have a profound impact on communities or schools. If you know of someone who is a survivor of suicide, reach out to them and offer them a safe place to help them in the healing process because at one point or another, we all just need a safe place to rejuvenate and strengthen ourselves in order to face to world once again.
As always, thanks for reading and if you would like to learn more about suicide and the effects it has on our society then I encourage you to visit the AFSP website and educate yourself on what you can do to make an impact in your community. I hope everyone enjoys the weekend, be safe and take care of yourself and each other, remember, we’re all in this together.
Wm Reid
Best Home Care Services
325 N Eastern Ave
Connersville, IN 47331
765-827-9833
wmreid@bhcshealth.com