World Suicide Prevention Day each year affords us an opportunity to reflect and to remember that the battle to reduce the numbers of people completing suicide is one we can never afford to lose focus on.
The theme is “Preventing Suicide: Reaching Out and Saving Lives”. But how do we do that? Surely only mental health or medical professionals can effectively reach out to those at risk of suicide? “What if I say the wrong thing, what if what I say isn’t enough, what if my asking about suicide suddenly plants the idea in their heads and if they end their lives then it will be my fault?”
These are very common and understandable thoughts and anxieties that people can experience when they have a friend or loved one who may be at risk of suicide. Through years of research we have learned much about what factors increase someone’s risk of completing suicide. One thing that is clear is that there is no one risk factor that will predict whether or not someone will choose to end their life and no one suicide prevention strategy will be effective on its own.
My role as a psychologist has at times placed me in what I feel is a privileged position, one that has afforded me the opportunity to listen to people whose emotional pain has felt so overwhelming at times that they have considered or attempted to end their life. I believe we all become understandably concerned and focus on the thoughts and actions associated with suicidal behaviour when it occurs. There is a need for this, and we need to take steps to keep people safe, but we also shouldn’t allow these behaviours and our anxieties about them, to interfere with what we can all try to do, which is to reach out and connect with people.
One of the most important ways that we can do this is through the power of empathy. Dr Brené Brown in her short but powerful video explains simply and succinctly how empathising with someone’s emotional experience can help them to feel connected and understood. There is huge power in conveying to someone that they’re not alone, that we are here to try to understand, share in their emotional experience, to carry some of the burden. We should not underestimate how important this can be to someone who might feel lost in themselves and in the world.
From an Irish perspective, although I believe this message is applicable worldwide, the power of connectedness is fantastically captured through the One Good Adult campaign from Headstrong. This campaign highlighted the importance for young people, whom we know can be at increased risk of suicide, of being connected to one good adult that they know will support them in an understanding and non-judgmental way.
On World Suicide Prevention Day, let’s remember that we can all reach out to prevent suicide by aiming to be that one good adult or one good friend who takes the time to recognise and empathise with someone who may be experiencing emotional pain.