Drive-In Vigil to Provide Support to Loved Ones of Those Lost to Suicide

September 10, 2020 by Leave a Comment

September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day

Thursday, 10th September, ‘World Suicide Prevention Day’, will see the world’s first pop up drive-in cinema being erected by START a mental health charity, in Salford, to mark World Suicide Prevention Day with their annual Vigil of Remembrance. The Vigil of Remembrance will also be broadcast in a worldwide live stream by the charity.

An online YouGov survey, commissioned by the UK’s leading funeral provider Co-op Funeralcare, shows that in the weeks following the start of the UK’s lockdown on 23rd March, 47% of bereaved adults in Manchester have been denied their final farewell. The grief process is always difficult. But a loss through suicide is like no other, and grieving can be especially complex and traumatic. People coping with this kind of loss often need more support than others, but may get less.

What to Say to Someone Grieving … or Not Say

Death by suicide, even more than other types of bereavement, makes many people uncomfortable and unsure how to react. There is still a stigma attached to suicide, rooted in centuries of history and this generates misplaced associations of weakness, blame, shame or even sin or crime. This stigma can prevent people from seeking help when they need it and others from offering support …

Six Steps to Help Prevent Suicide – a great read from GriefHelp.org.

Filed Under: Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Speaking Grief Documentary Available Nationwide for free beginning Aug. 30

August 26, 2020 by Leave a Comment

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — At some point in life, we all grieve. The loss of loved ones, relationships, pets, jobs —things big and small. But often, we don’t understand that what we’re feeling is grief or don’t know what to do for a friend or family member who might be going through a difficult time.

That’s why a WPSU Penn State documentary about the reality of grief is so important for people, according to WPSU senior producer Lindsey Whissel Fenton, who produced, directed and wrote the film.

“We’re all grieving something right now, and these collective griefs show we all have a stake in this work,” she said. “This documentary introduces concepts that, hopefully, will help us make sense of our own grief and respond to the experiences of others with compassion and authenticity.”

“Speaking Grief” will be available nationwide for free, on-demand viewing beginning Sunday, Aug. 30, through WPSU’s YouTube page, the Speaking Grief website and PBS Video app, which is available on mobile devices and streaming platforms such as Chromecast, Amazon Fire, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung TV and Apple TV.

“Speaking Grief” explores the reality of grief and offers guidance on how people can do a better job supporting those who are grieving. The documentary features candid interviews with families across the country — from California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas — whose losses include stillbirth and suicide….

Filed Under: Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: ,

Suicide Risk Rises Sharply. 6 Steps to Help Prevent Suicide

August 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment

The Covid-19 pandemic has put mental health for so many people at great risk.  Here are a few quick steps to get yourself on firmer footing.

  1. Get off social media.  The correlation between depression and anxiety and heavy social media usage is well documented.
  2. Explore nature.  Get out and enjoy God’s good earth.
  3. Walk every day.   Just a 30 minute walk goes a long way towards good health, physically and mentally.
  4. Socialize.  Make real social connections… in person.
  5. Read every day.  If you’re a Christian, start your morning each day by reading’s God’s Word.
  6. Start a Gratitude Journal.  If you’re reading this, you’re likely better off than 99% of the world’s population.  You have many blessings.  It helps to write them down and review them each morning or at bed time.

“A startling report released Thursday by the CDC found that 10.7% of Americans reported seriously contemplating suicide in the 30 days before the survey, issued over the last week of June, was conducted.

Grief Help logoThat’s in contrast to the 4.3% who reported the same thing over the course of 2018. The percentages were far higher in certain populations, including ethnic and racial minorities, and essential workers.

The report, which surveyed 5,412 Americans, also found that about a quarter had symptoms of anxiety and about the same percentage had symptoms of depression.”

Read the rest about the rising suicide risk due to Covid-19 pandemic decisions.

Filed Under: General, Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Can Snapchat ‘Hear for you’ help troubled teens?

February 21, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Snapchat has announced a new feature called “Here For You” that promises to “provide proactive in-app support to Snapchatters who may be experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis”. The popular youth-oriented app is the latest to join a wave of social media platforms setting out to monitor and …

On Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, users can block or report material, and Facebook also provides resources for users to engage directly with other users about their posts. These platforms, along with Pinterest, also deploy artificial intelligence to identify and ban content that may be viewed as harmful.

Facebook and Pinterest have also introduced more proactive measures, attempting to provide resources to users they view as being at risk for mental health concerns.

Filed Under: Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Jealous of the Angels

November 9, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I didn’t know today would be our last
Or that I’d have to say goodbye to you so fast
I’m so numb, I can’t feel anymore
Prayin’ you’d just walk back through that door
And tell me that I was only dreamin’
You’re not really gone as long as I believe
There will be another angel
Around the throne tonight
Your love lives on inside of me,
And I will hold on tight
It’s not my place to question,
Only God knows why
I’m just jealous of the angels
Around the throne tonight
You always made my troubles feel so small
And you were always there to catch me when I’d fall
In a world where heroes come and go
Well God just took the only one I know
So I’ll hold you as close as I can
Longing for the day, when I see your face again
But until…

Source: LyricFind

Filed Under: Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: , , , ,

Grief Help: Using Writing to Help Us Process Our Sorrow

July 10, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Using Writing to Help Us Process Our GriefEight months after John died, Neustadter started sending emails to his old Yahoo address, because “communicating with John was truly the only thing I wanted to do at that time,” she said. It gave her a way to keep the conversation alive.

“And it felt symbolic and ritualistic to send an actual letter out somewhere into the unknown,” Neustadter said.

Neustadter also used writing to make sense of John’s suicide—why did he turn to suicide? what signs did she miss? She wrote down everything about John that she could remember.

Writing gave Neustadter “some sense of purpose.” She wanted to write the book she wished she’d had: “a book about a young woman, effectively widowed at 29, struggling to make sense of the loss of her soul mate and why he took his life. There were a lot of parts to this, and I had a lot of questions. None of the books on grief that I found helped me with understanding how to navigate my loss.”

“If I could offer other women (or men) like myself a book that made them feel less alone and helped them navigate through traumatic grief, then maybe, just maybe, it would make my experience of John’s death worthwhile in some way.”

More on this Grief Help….

Filed Under: Grief Help and Healing, Suicide Tagged With: , , , , ,