With the suicides of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade only months ago, suicide has become a recurring discussion. The week of Sept. 10-14 was National Suicide Prevention Week, which was initially started to spread suicide awareness and empower people to take action to prevent it.
Victoria Jones, a therapist and the outreach coordinator for the University of Memphis Counseling Center, and other employees from the Department of Student Counseling and Health Services were in front of the University Center on Thursday to keep the conversation going.
“We’re trying to reach as many students, staff and faculty about the tragic numbers that are occurring around our area of people committing suicide and trying to make people more aware that this is a problem and to help their loved ones because it can’t just be people that are in this profession,” Jones said. “It’s your peers, and it’s your colleagues. You’re going to be the ones who will be seeing these problems before we even see them. Everybody has to be preventative because one person can save a life.”
Jones said she and the Counseling Center set up their suicide prevention booth annually and host training sessions throughout the year to help people identify signs of suicidal behavior.
“Getting people connected to resources we have and getting people the help that they need, I know that is definitely happening,” Jones said.
Jones said the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, a grass-roots organization that aims to eliminate the stigma of suicide and educate communities about the warning signs of suicide, is responsible for informing people about suicide prevention awareness throughout the year. She also said it is important to educate people about suicide prevention throughout the year.
“Springtime is a really susceptible time for people to consider suicide,” Jones said. “It’s after the holidays, and there is just not a lot going on anymore. And it’s coming to the end of the school year, so there’s not a lot of assignments. So they (the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network) try to make sure these kinds of things are going on all year round.”
Jones said she wants suicide awareness to be more widespread.
“The current climate of all the people in the news who have committed suicide in the recent years makes it more prevalent in people’s minds, but this has been happening for a long time,” Jones said. “And the numbers have been rising like this for a long time, and people are now finally starting to want to talk about it. I think it (the public awareness of suicide) is great because it’s really de-stigmatizing what mental health really is and that people who are really thinking about suicide are in a really, really dark place. They need that help because they don’t know where else to turn.”
Jones said she wants 80 percent of the people on campus to be trained on how to identify suicidal behavior.
“People and the administration are supporting us to make it a position where everyone feels like they want to be a part of it because nobody wants to see somebody commit suicide,” Jones said.
Asia Amos, a Student Counseling and Health Services assistant, said noticing the signs of suicidal behavior is essenital for preventing suicide.
“We can have friends or family that are isolating themselves or withdrawing, or their behavior has changed in some way, and we don’t know why, and we don’t know how severe or important it is,” Amos said. “Even just getting training on what the signs are can be the first step in being able to help someone else.”
Jason Wong, another Student Counseling and Health Services assistant, said he worked to spread suicide prevention awareness at California State University San Bernardino, where he used to attend school.
“I think that part of it is recognizing the severity of the problem as well as noticing that there are ways that we can help,” Wong said. “Those two things, I think, really help with suicide awareness.”
A student talks with Jason Wong, middle, and Aria Amos, right, employees from the Couseling Center and the Department of Student Counseling and Health Services. Their booth was set up to promote education about suicide.
