Making Suicide Prevention a Community Priority By Rebecca Myers
There’s power in community and how it can shape critical conversations.
And a big conversation happening all over the globe is access to mental health and well-being resources and education. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated that need with people feeling the effects of isolation from stay-at-home orders and missing out on social events for the majority of a year. Intertwined is suicide – a difficult public health crisis to talk about but one that affects people across all cultures, populations and age groups. Yet, it is preventable, and everyone and every community has a role to play to reduce stigma around mental wellness.
Having people share their stories as loss survivors, or people whose loved ones have died by suicide, can be a first step. Greg Lattanzi, a lieutenant with the Dublin Police, offers his experience about the death of his sister in order to encourage others to open up about this crisis and to connect people with the support they need. “Talking about these issues,” Greg says, “provides a comfort level for other people who are struggling to come forward and seek treatment – and have difficult discus-
sions that may save their life or save one of their loved ones’ lives.” Personal Perspective In 2015, after working a shift with the Dublin Police, Greg received a phone call from his mother that his older sister, Christina, wasn’t answering her phone. Greg’s mother wanted to know if he had heard from his sister recently. So, Greg says they decided his mom would take the 40-minute car trip to check on Christina, all while feeling that something didn’t seem right.
Community Conversation Before the pandemic, the Dublin Police Department had planned to host a townhall focused on suicide prevention and education efforts. The aim was to include the public in an open dialogue and empower residents to know how they can impact suicide prevention efforts in their community. While that in-person discussion was halted last spring, a growing emphasis on residents’ well-being has energized the need for education right now. Dublin Police is considering virtual options to continue this community conversation in 2021. Susan Ortega, with local behavioral health agency Syntero, explains the need for that open dialogue. “We need to make conversations about mental wellness as commonplace as talking about the weather or how well the Buckeyes played this week,” Susan says. “By making it the norm to really talk about how we are really doing, people who may be struggling with stressors, whether they’re mental health or substance abuse related – they will hopefully see that it’s OK to talk about those things openly.” 14 • February/March 2021
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