Sharing – We Need More Comprehensive Suicide Prevention

What Lily says is too important to do anything more than quote it from her post:

“To truly work on preventing suicide, in addition to promoting crisis resources, we also need to focus on the many systemic harms and barriers that contribute to suicidal ideation. Far too many people are barred (for financial reasons, cultural reasons or otherwise) from accessing routine and urgent mental health care. The social and economic conditions facing many people in this country, particularly those from marginalized groups, lend themselves well to despair and worsened mental health. We urgently need more efforts to address these aspects of suicide prevention. Thousands of lives depends on it.

I have no complaints about the fact that there is increasing awareness about mental health and suicide prevention, or that people are sharing lifesaving resources. But suicide prevention is more than a phone number, and comprehensive suicide prevention is long overdue.”

I, obviously, agree. Awareness is great. Ending stigma, and having a crisis resource is great. It’s also not enough. What are we doing after the immediate crisis to prevent the next one, or to provide treatment and resources for all of the people who aren’t getting any now? What are we doing to accommodate people in the workplace who need to see a therapist on the regular, or need to be medicated and have some accommodation made? What are insurance companies doing to make sure mental health coverage is on par with physical health coverage, and who is enforcing the law when it isn’t? What are we doing to support families and loved ones who are doing their best to support people dealing with mental health issues?

As long as there are still so many not getting the help they need, the obvious answer to all of these questions is, not enough.

https://themighty.com/2021/09/we-need-more-comprehensive-suicide-prevention/