Suicide Awareness and Prevention Strategies
Suicide is a leading cause of death, especially among older men, and it is preventable. Understanding the role stigma plays in accessing help, identifying risk factors, warning signs, and knowing how to talk about suicide are important concepts in prevention and awareness efforts. This presentation will equip the audience with the knowledge and confidence of suicide prevention strategies.
Erin Harlow-Parker, APRN (Advanced Practice Nurse), PMHCNS-BC (Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – Board Certified), has worked in the field of psychiatry for more than 35 years. She received her BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) from Rhode Island College and her MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Her practice areas have included inpatient, outpatient, consult psychiatry and behavioral and mental health illness prevention work. Her passions include suicide prevention, treating patients with eating disorders, and reducing mental health stigma. Erin has done countless presentations on suicide prevention, building resilience, and eating disorders to a wide variety of audiences.
In January of 2022, Erin’s husband of 32 years, and prominent Atlanta businessperson, died by suicide. Since then, she has made it her mission to change the narrative on suicide. Erin’s speaking engagements focus on suicide awareness and prevention, with the purpose of educating, decreasing stigma, and increasing help-seeking behavior.
Currently, Erin serves as the Manager of Child Advocacy Programs, Behavioral Mental Health, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and is actively involved in suicide prevention efforts at the state level. In 2018, Erin was awarded the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses.
Speaker Summary
Erin provided an informative and powerful discussion of suicide, with a focus on suicide prevention, based on her clinical experience and her very personal experience after her husband died from suicide in January 2022.
She began by sharing some disconcerting statistics about suicide rates in the U.S., especially among older people and, particularly, older men. She shared some of the factors that contribute to the increased risk of suicide as you age and how one of these, loneliness/lack of social connectedness, is especially significant for older men. Erin noted that the suicide rate for people over 65 increased 8% from 2021-2022, likely impacted by the COVID pandemic and how it exacerbated the impact of loneliness/isolation on suicidal feelings and actions.
Erin talked about the role of stigma as an obstacle to talking about suicide and how things like fear, embarrassment, shame and misconceptions about suicide prevent people from asking and talking about it, leading to reducing the chances of preventing suicides. She also talked about “the language of suicide” (e.g., people die from suicide, they don’t commit suicide) and how that, too, is problematic in talking about and addressing the problem.
Erin then went through a lengthy discussion of the suicide risk factors, suicide warning signs and the protective factors that help mitigate these risks before moving on to the crux of her talk –what we can do to help prevent suicide. She emphasized the concept of building resilience which is the ability to handle life’s ups and downs. Erin talked about practicing healthy habits and especially focused on self-care, connectedness and emotional expression. She engaged the DMA audience to help make her point – and personalize the concept – of emotional expression by having members provide relevant examples from their own lives. Through this, it became clearer why suicide can be a greater risk for men due, in part, to how they have been conditioned to deal with and express their emotions.
Before closing with a list of suicide prevention resources, including several local/Connecticut resources, Erin provided five action steps to help support someone with suicidal thoughts. Perhaps most critically (here and throughout her talk), Erin talked about not letting the fear of doing or saying the wrong thing stop you from doing something.
Several thought provoking questions provided the opportunity for Erin to make the additional points about how people in leadership positions (e.g., CEO’s) are at greater risk of suicide and that suicide risk and protection factors don’t differ as you age, although some of them might have greater salience due to life stage and developmental differences that are impacted by your age.
Erin provided me with a copy of her talk. Anyone who would like it can email me at frankdeleo@hotmail.com.