This same time last year I shared data from the calendar year 2013 (CY13) Department of Defense Suicide Event Report (DoDSER). The DoD releases the most up-to-date DoDSER report annually, which summarizes fatal and nonfatal suicide events for U.S. Service members. As someone who is highly interested in suicide prevention and intervention, I anxiously await the release of the new document every year.
Having recently participated in a local suicide prevention event in my local community, this article about suicide and stigma caught my eye. I was invited by a group of individuals to help with a suicide awareness and prevention walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to help with a community educational meeting about suicide about two weeks after the walk. Most of the individuals who are a part of this group have had personal experience with suicide, losing one or more family members in this way.
Clinicians are affected when a patient suicides. We may all be affected differently. Some of us may grieve the loss, some of us may question our competence, and some of us may fear seeing future suicidal or high-risk patients. There are also confounding variables that may arise following the suicide event that can complicate or extend the grief process, including legal/ethical issues, administrative requirements, and clinic procedures to name a few.
Providing or attending a live training in a virtual environment is a new experience for most people. This article is a brief description of what it was like to be the trainer for a recent Suicide Prevention Training in Second Life, a virtual environment.
In recent years, with the rising rate of suicide among Service members (SM) and Veterans, much attention has been given to factors that contribute to suicide in this population. The authors note that many returning SM experience psychological problems that are known to be associated with higher suicide risk.