Got the call on Fri, that one of the largest school districts in the country, is going to work w us to uniformly implement L.I.F.E. Saver, a 1st-PERSON suicide prevention program w their w the parents, teachers, & students.
Vulnerable story-telling via assemblies, posters, desk charts, credit card sized cards for wallets/purses, QR codes w videos to watch any time someone feels at risk, or just to be preventative.
It’s the most rewarding part of this work. Programs directly saving lives. And while we have worked w districts arnd the country to implement the plan, it’s not been one this large w this many schools. It’s one of those districts that spans a whole county, not just a few schools.
How’d it come abt? A parent, who lost their childhood friend to suicide & has a daughter whose MH is struggling, saw us implement the program in schools in the northeast, & spent months lobbying his new district, to make it happen. Parents CAN be advocates & have impact. A primary reason for this post. To empower you!
Getting in this space, what I was amazed (& disappointed) by, was how narrowly we talk abt MH. Yes if you’ve been following you know abt how limiting we believe the “1 in 5” stat is, & how we need to talk abt MH as the “5 in 5” issue it is.
But in suicide prevention specifically, WHY do we only train what to look for in “others”? Giving away possessions? Making a plan? So limiting.
We sadly have SO many ppl, 1st-person, who’ve experienced ideations – why are we not pulling from their experiences to be preventative as to what to LOOK out for, in ourselves? LIFE Saver is like “Stop, Drop, & Roll” of suicide prevention. Per this graphic, we do not address ideations in aggregate. Only those we SEE as “at risk.”
That’s why we use the SameHere Scale to identify & teach nervous system states. So we can find those “in the red” on this graphic. And it’s why we teach a simple plan of what to do when we experience the ideations.
Countless examples of public figures who are open abt intense ideations, & are now thriving. We can get in front of this & save lives, together.