While only 2% of suicides are murder-suicides, the narrative of this tragedy dominates public consciousness. Due to the fact that the circumstances are horrific, and the media reports on these stories more frequently and with more details than most other community tragedies, it’s not surprising that we feel overwhelmed. What is often not discussed is the unimaginable grief and trauma left behind in the families of the perpetrators. In my interview with Sue Klebold, mother of Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold, we learn more about why she spent many years in hiding and what she is doing now so that other families don’t have to experience what hers did.

About Sue Klebold

Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters at Columbine High School in 1999 who killed 13 people and injured more than twenty others before taking their own lives.  Since the tragedy, Sue has worked to understand the crucial intersection between mental health problems and violence.  From her book, A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy (Crown, 2016) she is donating all author profits to mental health and suicide prevention organizations.  She is a member of the Loss and Healing Council of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and a member of the Consumer Survivor Subcommittee of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

More details, resources and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/26

“I don’t expect my friends to understand what I’ve been through. When I’m around Veterans, like-minded Veterans, I don’t have to explain myself. They already know.” ~Male Veteran

In this podcast, Master Sergeant Christopher D. Jachimiec shares the tragedy of losing his brother Adam to suicide. We explore our shared grief experiences as sibling survivors of suicide loss and the making meaning process. Out of catastrophe we have options — to get buried under, to gloss over or to go through. Chris found his higher purpose was “honoring the dash” — our lives are not about the start date or end date, but what happens in between.

During the interview, Chris shares so many resources (many listed below), key steps in the journey of healing, and lessons learned from Viktor Frankl.

More details, show notes and resources: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/25

When we talk about suicide bereavement, we often think about the grief part of the response, but sometimes we forget that the experience of losing a loved one to suicide is also traumatic. When a parent loses a child to suicide, the complications of traumatic grief are frequently unparalleled. For many, their core beliefs about the world and themselves are shattered and the pieces take a while to pull back together — like “someone pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it into the (emotional) center of the family.”

In this interview we follow the journey of Dr. Sharon McDonnell. In 1990 she lost her brother to suicide, and she found herself on a ‘mission to move mountains.” Today she is a world leader in suicide bereavement research. Her dissertation was entitled, “Identifying the Experiences of Parents Bereaved by Suicide or Undetermined Death.” Listen to the lessons she has learned along the way.

More details, show notes, contact information and resources: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/24

In this podcast I interview Sebastian Slovin, author of Ashes in the Ocean: A Son’s Story of Living though and Learning from his Father’s suicide. We touch upon themes of survival, stigma and safe space and how he was able to grow up in the shadow of suicide and piece together a narrative and a life worth living. Sebastian shares to other men, “Not feeling does not work” in the grief healing journey. He talks openly and honestly about how peer and professional support — even spiritual connections — can make a big difference in letting men know they are not alone in their bereavement by suicide.

More details and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/23

Sebastian Slovin website: https://www.sebastianslovin.com/

Today’s podcast will explore the day in the life of a crisis support center — how it works, what to expect if you or someone you care about needs some help getting back on track. My interview with Jennifer Battle explores the social justice roots of the evolution of crisis support services and her deep gratitude for the work she does every day. 

Mental health crises occur when our ability to cope is overwhelmed by the internal and external stressors in our life. Sometimes crises are related to inner experiences like worsening depression, mania, psychosis or other symptoms of a mental health condition. Sometimes they are in reaction to an external stressor like trauma, divorce or intense grief. Often times it’s many things coming together in a point in time. For whatever reason, in that moment, people often feel unable to resolve the situation with the resources they have and feel out of control and hopeless.

More details and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/22

Guests: Heidi Bryan and Dr. Yeates Conwell

In many societies we are predominantly youth-focused and overlook the healthcare and policy needs of our elders. This ageist perspective often leads to cultural scripts that prevent us from listening better to alleviate suffering and increase reasons for living, and ultimately help us all live well into our golden years.

In the podcast our panel includes two experts a leading researcher of geriatric psychiatry and a co-founder of United Survivors Suicide International who has tremendous experience in many national board positions leveraging the perspectives of people with lived expertise. Together they bring sound research and stories about the resilience of our elders — their life satisfaction and happiness and tactics to ward off the 5 D’s of suicide risk: Depression, Disease, Disability, Disconnection and Deadly means.

Together they passionately advocate for age-friendly health systems and communities, especially more providers with specialties in working with elders. Together let’s shift the attitude and appreciate more for the value our elders, “When we lose an older person, we lose a library.”

More details, resources, and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/21

When it comes to engaging a wider circle in our suicide prevention and mental health promotion movements, we need to take a page from the playbook of other social justice movements. How do we “make the message stick”? How can we bring the call to action to life? How do we create a tipping point of change?

Successful agents of change are able to connect the dots and “bake in” tactics within a broader system, making suicide prevention and mental health promotion everyone’s priority. They also enroll people into the cause by listening first and then employing culturally responsive efforts that lift up the stories of local people who have lived through the challenges.

In this podcast we hear from an international inspiration, John Mendoza, on how he has mobilized change throughout Australia and beyond. I first met John through our mutual admiration of MATES in Construction many years ago. In 2014 John came to Colorado upon my invitation to speak at our US/Canada/Australia forum on Workplace Mental Health. Most recently, he invited me to keynote at an event on the Sunshine Coast called “Shifting the Dial” where he convened 165 business, political, advocate and lived experience leaders to talk about innovative approaches to tackling the injustice of suicide.

More details and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/20

Early in his career Dr. John Draper had a lightbulb moment when he was on suicide watch for patients while they were being "treated" with isolation and restraints; he thought "we can do better." Today, John is one of the global leaders transforming crisis care for people on their worst day. He has helped spark an evolution through his leadership of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by using data, standards of excellence and the input of people with lived experience to continually improve care.

One area of focus for John is virtual support. We have a significant gap between mental health treatment and support resources and the need for these services, and technology can help us meet those needs. Virtual support can offer a spectrum of benefits and is desirable due to its efficiency, cost-effectiveness and anonymity. In this podcast John talks about the many new evidence-based technology resources that help us reach people in the way they want when they want it.

More details and show notes: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/19

What does it mean to "promote the positive" in suicide prevention? 

When we are inundated with discouraging data about increasing suicide rates and tragic stories of suicide loss, our hearts are moved to the urgency of the need to "do something;" however, sometimes we feel hopeless that we can ever get in front of this daunting issue….

When we change the public narrative to hope, connectedness, social support, treatment and recovery we can transform systems from helplessness to inspiration. We don't need to minimize the pain or the social injustice that drives despair to do this….

In this podcast, we hear some powerful insights from Dr. Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, the associate professor for public health, Medical University of Vienna (Austria) about the Papageno Effect and the potentially protective effects of specific positive messaging, especially related to stories of people who live and grow through personal experiences with suicidal intensity.

More information and show notes: https://sally-spencerthomas-heey.squarespace.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/18

How do we communicate about suicide with teens? Perhaps, they are the ones in the best position to tell us.?

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention recommends strategy, safety and a positive narrative when messaging about suicide. Messages and images that encourage hope are better than ones that imply "nothing can be done." Messages that celebrate resilience, healing journeys and compassion are better than ones that romanticize death, are voyeuristic or sensationalized. Messages that inspire action like reaching out or offering compassion are more valuable than ones that perpetuate misinformation and myths

In this podcast we learn some best practices in enrolling our youth to be these positive, safe, and effective messengers for suicide prevention and mental health promotion. Stan Collins, the Co-Founder and Program Manager of Directing Change Student Film Contest and Program which invites high school student to create 60-second films about suicide prevention and mental health.

More details: https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/17