LETTER: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Contributed by Cloe Voebel
The risk of suicide has always been an issue that I hold personal relations with. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States (2017). Although efforts among society as well as my own for suicide prevention has been persistent, the rates of successful suicides has continued to been on the rise. In an article by Heller (2015), The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that nearly one million people die each year by suicide. As of 2017, 44,193 Americans die by suicide each year (The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). Within the social work field, between 32% and 34% of social workers working in the United States have reported having a client die by suicide and 50% to 90% have reported working with suicidal clients.
My personal struggle with suicide has been an ongoing battle since I was in high school. Around age 16, I began feeling like I had nothing left to offer the world. I’d often sit in my room wishing I could die just to see who would actually miss me. Before my family and I became aware of my mental health disabilities, my will to live slowly dissipated. Although I never had a thought out plan to end my life, I would leave written notes of what I was feeling in obvious places in my room so my mom would see them. My mom eventually found a note that finally hit hard and caused her to threaten putting me in a psychiatric hospital. I immediately regretted my decision to leave the note, believing my own mom was not on my side and was looking for an easy solution to fix her daughter.
After leaving high school, I began to find hope again after being accepted into my dream college. In the fall of 2014, I attended Sam Houston State University with dreams of becoming a forensic scientist. Over the period of one semester, I fell into a deep depression that led me to dropping classes and nearly failing my first chemistry class. I quickly came to the realization that I was not cut out for the degree I had wanted to pursue since I was in middle school. I soon realized that all those crime shows like Forensic Files made the job seem much more easy than what is in reality.
My lack of passion of chemistry, my spiraling depression, and financial struggles brought me back home. At the age of 19, I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder. After receiving these diagnoses, I was so happy to finally have answers to the questions I’ve longed for since I was 16. I am now in therapy and seeing a psychiatrist once a month. Since I was 18, I have tattooed numerous suicide prevention tattoos on my body in regards to my personal battle and to show others they are not alone. Although this is not the advocacy effort I used for this project, I have been advocating for these suicidal souls since I found my way out of the darkness.
With help from the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, I established a personal funding page in order to raise money for the Out of the Darkness campaign. The University of Houston hosted an Out of the Darkness walk on April 2nd, 2017. I had signed up to attend this walk and also made a sign to help advocate for the cause. Unfortunately, the weather that day prevented me from attending and I soon sought out for an alternative way to advocate. I was fortunate to come across a link on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s webpage that allowed me to create my own personal campaign and advocate for funding. I plan to continue this campaign until I reach my goal of raising at least $500. As of today, I have raised $50 for the Out of the Darkness campaign.
Disparities among this population include individuals living in areas that are characterized by social deprivation and social fragmentation (Slater, Scourfield, & Greenland, 2015). Men die by suicide 3.5 times more often than women and in 2015; white males accounted for 7 of the 10 suicides (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). The rates of suicide are highest among middle aged white men (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). White males have the highest rate of suicide in the United States as of 2015, with America Indians and Alaska Natives having the second highest rates. In 2015, the highest rate of suicides was among adults between the ages of 45 and 64 (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). Although men have the highest rates of completed suicides, females attempt suicide more often than males (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). The most common methods for committing suicide in 2015 was with the use of firearms at 49.8 %, suffocation 26.8%, poisoning 15.4 %, and other 7.9 % (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017).
According to Slater, Scourfield, and Greenland (2015), there has been little research into social work with suicidal people. Although this is not due to the lack of social work interest in suicidal research, it’s that social wok researchers have contributed to the wider social science literature on suicide (Slater, Scourfield, & Greenland, 2015). According to Slater, Scourfield, and Greenland (2015), it is estimated that for every completed suicide, twenty-five attempts are made. A study conducted by Slater, Scourfield, and Greenland (2015), showed that more people with suicidal history were in contact with a social worker. This statistic personally showed me the use of social work values such as dignity and worth of the person, integrity, and competence being positively consistent when working with suicidal clients. I believe this shows that suicidal clients trust social workers more than other health practitioners. Social worker’s ethical responsibilities to clients such as commitment to clients, client self-determination, and competence have remained primary and crucial values among social workers (NASW Code of Ethics 2017).
As of now, I am still on the road to recovery. Foundations such as The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) have been very helpful resources for myself personally. My avocation for this issue will remain to be consistent and I refuse to let suicide get the best of me. I have had people in the past notify me explaining that my outspokenness on this issue has opened their eyes and has allowed them to be more open about the topic. I hope to continue to inspire people and help decrease the rates of suicide; my story isn’t over yet.
Also published on Medium.
