Hope Illuminated Podcast: Helping the Helpers Bring Light to Life’s Darkest Moments

Did you know?
Approximately 30% of ALL ER visits end with a prescription for a opioid. (Teater, 2015)

Approximately 60% of patients going to the ER with back pain will get an opioid prescription. (Teater, 2015)

Primary care doctors give opioids to about 35% of their patients presenting with back pain.

Pain is the most common reason for people to go to the ER or to their primary care doctor. (Teater, 2015)

One opioid prescription after an injury doubles the risk of being disabled at one year. (Teater, 2015)

The combined deaths among Americans — suicide and unintentional overdose — in 2000 was 41,364 deaths and in 2017 was 110,749 deaths. (Bohnert & Ilgen, 2019)

The good news is there are shared prevention approaches, and we are learning more and more as the silos between those addressing the opioid crisis and those addressing suicide begin to fall away. In this podcast Dr. Don Teater and I explore how opioid use and suicide are connected and what we need to do to find better ways to alleviate pain and suffering.

Teater, D. (2015). Prescription Opioids: The Real Story.
About Dr. Don Teater
Medical Advisor
National Safety Council Don is a family practitioner from Western North Carolina. His practice now concentrates on the treatment of pain and the treatment of opioid use disorder. Don was the lead facilitator for the expert panel discussion during the development of the CDC guidelines for treating pain. He continues to contract with the CDC on educating prescribers on the treatment of acute and chronic pain. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/33

For the past century, the science of suicide prevention has not revealed much that is highly promising; however, innovations coming from the research lab of Dr. Matt Nock are quite exciting. Join us as we talk about his work with electronic diaries, attentional bias, ketamine, and much more. Findings that are helping us be able to better predict suicide risk and find more effective ways to prevent this tragedy.

About Dr. Matt Nock
Matt Nock headshot.jpeg
Dr. Matt Nock received his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University (2003) and completed his clinical internship at Bellevue Hospital and the New York University Child Study Center (2003). Nock’s research is aimed at advancing the understanding of why people behave in ways that are harmful to themselves, with an emphasis on suicide and other forms of self-harm. He has been published in over 250 scientific papers and book chapters. Nock’s work has been recognized through the receipt of four early career awards from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the American Association of Suicidology.

In 2011, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to conducting research, Nock has been a consultant/scientific advisor to the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 Childhood and Adolescent Disorder Work Group. In 2017, he was named the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/32

Well before we had writing and certainly before we had powerpoint, people were sharing stories. When it comes to suicide, we must “tell a more powerful tale” — one of resilience and redemption. When we cultivate stories that describe experiences of coming through unimaginable suicidal despair or suicide grief, storytellers “make meaning” and broader societal changes are possible. In other words, storytelling is good for the storyteller, and when done safely and effectively, it is good for the listener and can powerfully shift culture. In this interview Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona and I talk about the neurobiology and cultural implications of the power of the story to heal.

About Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona
Lewis Mehl-Madrona
Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona is the author of the “Coyote Trilogy,” (1998, 2003 & 2005), “Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process” (2007), “Healing the Mind through the Power of Story: The Promise of Narrative Psychiatry” (2010) and “Remapping Your Mind: The Neuroscience of Self-Transformation through Story” (2015). A Stanford educated MD, Mehl-Madrona is familiar with brain science and pharmacology, and while he does not eschew Western medicine when it is helpful, he seeks to find additional answers and alternatives to well-being. Inspired by his Cherokee grandmother’s storytelling and tapping into Lakota, Cherokee and Cree traditions of healing, he has spent his career understanding how storytelling converges with neurobiology.

Mehl-Medrona and others involved in Narrative Psychology have noticed the power of stories to transform our lives and shift our inner voices from victim and chaos to redemption and honor. The spiritual journey and healing use of storytelling has been at the cultural center of many indigenous peoples including the Maori, Africans, Mongolians, Aborigines, and Inuit for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and there is much we can learn from the oldest living cultures on earth. For generations within many tribal communities storytelling is valued for it healing capacity, especially when connected with ritual. Paula Gunn Allen, a Laguna/Sioux writer describes “medicine stories” as ceremonial narratives that alter states of consciousness — creating connection between body and spirit. In other words, language in the form of narrative is medicine (ardenhegele, 2017). For Mehl-Madrona, what we can learn from these native traditions is the mindset of narrative medicine, and that these values and practices are portable across cultures.

Frustrated with how conventional medicine ignored the experiences of the patient, Mehl-Madrona believes that by crafting our personal, family, and cultural narratives, we can reshape the dysfunctional patterns of our lives and the larger worlds in which we interact. While modern medicine has made tremendous advances, both the speed of interaction and the high-tech approach has created more distance between the healer and the helped. The practice of storytelling as a healing practice can help bridge this gap.

In his book, “Healing the Mind through the Power of Story,” Mehl-Madrona explains that many people who are suffering emotionally are not defective or ill, requiring drugs to “fix them”; instead what needs “fixing” are the sabotaging internalized stories that have seriously challenged their self- and world-view. The healing then comes from “telling a more powerful tale” about their lives. We construct story to reduce the chaos of our experience. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/31

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Suicide & The Workplace -- Globalization, Job Strain, and the Dark Side of the New Economy: Interview with Dr. Allison Milner | Episode 30
NOTE: This podcast will air on 2/26/19 at 10:00AM ET https://soundcloud.com/user-225414284-842732102
Overview
Too often when we talk about mental health promotion and suicide prevention in the workplace, the main message is about how to get workers who are suffering to counselors. Not enough attention is paid to the environmental aspects of the workplace that may be contributing to despair and what peers, managers and leadership can do to solve these problems. The research is clear — job strain is connected to suicide risk (Milner, et al, 2017). In particular certain types of job strain are related to suicide attempts and death:

Low control (limited decision-making)

High demand (pressure, workload)

Effort-reward imbalance (e.g., high pressure/expectations with little reward — income, respect or security)

Job insecurity

Bullying/harassment (Leach et al)

On this podcast I interview an international authority on workplace suicide and mental health research, Dr. Allison Milner. Join us as we explore some of the social determinants of suicide through a social justice lens in the world of work.

“Suicide prevention doesn’t just magically happen on the psychiatrist’s couch…It happens peer-to-peer. We need the day-to-day interactions to support mental health services and help resolve issues when they are smaller.”

About Dr. Allison Milner
Allison Milner
Dr. Allison Milner is a Deputy Director of the Disability and Health Unit, Melbourne School Population and Global Health, the University of Melbourne. Her current areas of research interests include the influence of gender, employment characteristics, quality of work, and occupation as determinants of mental health and suicide. Allison also focuses on specific employed groups that may be particularly likely to face disadvantage, such as blue-collar workers in the manufacturing and construction industry. Allison’s work ranges across a number of externally-funded etiologic and intervention projects. She works with key policy stakeholders to promote research on the link between work and mental health, and is the co-chair for an international panel of researchers aiming to promote workplace suicide prevention. She has been awarded the Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowship for her work on gender, employment and mental health. In this work, she is progressing the concept of “gendered working environments” as a cause of health inequalities. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/30

While peer support and peer specialist efforts have long existed in areas of mental health communities and post-critical incidents, their role in suicide prevention has been more recent. Some feared that peer support might increase vulnerability through the “copycat” phenomenon. Others were concerned that suicide was just too complicated of an issue for peers to try to take on.

Then we listened to the voices of people with lived experience with suicidal intensity who told us over and over that peers played an incredibly influential role in not only bringing them back from the brink, but giving them new reasons for living and hope. Peer supporters and peer specialists also told us that helping others helped them.

The Helper Effect
This “Helper Effect” is a well-established phenomenon where people use the wisdom they have gained through living with a problem to help others with the same or similar problem, and in return their own recovery is strengthened. There are many reasons why this is so:

Makes meaning and affirms recovery.
When we are applying the insight from our own experience while helping others, we can sometimes think, “Well, I wish I never had to go through my hard time, but now that I have, I can use my inner wisdom to help another in a way I wouldn’t have been able to without the experience.”

Feelings of social value and respect.
Helping others is an honorable role — even when we feel like imposters — we can feel a boost when others have confidence in our abilities and knowledge.

Keeps helper accountable to wellness.
When we find ourselves in a position of supporting another person, we often think, “I need to take care of myself for me AND because now I am a role model for someone else.” OR as my colleague Chris Carlough once said, “You are like a lifeguard — you can’t be tired if you are saving the lives of others; you need to be strong enough for two.”

Reciprocity.
When we “have each other’s backs” and are willing to be vulnerable with one another, we develop high trust relationships. Our safety net for emotional crises is strengthened.

It feels good to do good.
When we connect in positive ways our brain releases endorphins and oxytocin that helps us feel bonded and improves our self-image.

In this interview I get the honor of chatting with Lt. John Coppedge, whom I met through the Denver Police Department’s Peer Support Program. Lt. Coppedge was a key leader in our “Breaking the Silence” video and training workbook with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Here he shares his journey about his own trauma history and how it has helped shape his passion for peer support.

Lt. John Coppedge
About Lt. John Coppedge
John Coppedge has served as a police officer with the Denver Police Department since 1992. He currently serves as the Director of Training, as well as supervising the departments employee wellness and resiliency program. He has volunteered as a peer counselor with the agency’s Peer Support team since 2002. John received his BA in Communication with a minor in Psychology from Regis University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He is pursuing a Master’s degree in Counseling also from Regis University.

When not working, John enjoys spending time with his wife Joni, his children and grandchildren. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/29

After listening to many people describe their experiences with suicidal intensity, I and others have come to think about the clash between the will to live and the desire to escape unimaginable emotional pain as an “epic battle” between fierce forces. On one side is the warrior fighting to live, continuing to make future plans and persevering toward health and vitality. At the same time the pain this warrior is battling can be all-consuming.

In this interview we hear from one man about his “epic battle for recovery” and how he bolstered the strength of his inner warrior who fought valiantly for a passion for living. Gabe Howard is not just managing his bipolar condition and hanging on the edge, he is living well. In other words mental illness and mental well-being are two different dimensions.

About Gabe Howard
Gabe Howard headshot.jpeg
www.gabehoward.com
In 2003, Gabe was formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety and was committed to a psychiatric hospital. He weighed 550 pounds and had been living with mania for the better part of a year. He felt so hopeless that he rented an apartment so he could carry out his plan for suicide. AND at the same time he commenced treatment in the fight for his life.

Once his recovery was in motion, Gabe honed his writing and speaking skills and became an activist. Today he is fighting a new battle — one to end discrimination and prejudice for other people like him who are living with mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar and schizophrenia. He is an award-winning writer contributing to The Mighty and the NAMI Advocate and publishing My Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations. In addition, he produces two podcasts: the Psych Central Podcast and A Bipolar, a Schizophrenic and a Podcast. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/28

I first became aware of the power of humor in wellness through my involvement with Cactus Inc. and our Man Therapy initiative. In this program, we used humorous outward facing media to draw men into the website portal and then self-assess for depression, anxiety, anger and substance use issues. When we evaluated the program, the humor was the #1 thing the guys told us they liked because it helped put them at ease.

Having a sense of humor is a sign of emotional well-being. Here are five ways humor helps our wellness:

Stress-relief: When we laugh we increase our endorphins and decrease our stress-related hormone cortisol. These responses help us relax.

Connect: Humor pulls down social barriers and helps us overcome conflict.

Distraction: Humor can take our mind off our problems. A good coping strategy when you are feeling blue is to put on your favorite stand-up comedian or funny movie.

Perspective: When we can laugh at ourselves, we can often find the funny in our distress and put our woes into perspective.

Positivity: Humor gives us positive feelings like hopefulness and amusement that can counter-act dysphoric moods.

In this interview I get the opportunity to chat with the “Mental Health Comedian” Frank King. Frank has used his sense of humor to help open up conversations about depression and suicide from classrooms to corporate conference rooms. Join me as we put on our “giggle goggles” together and learn more about how laughing helps heal us.

About Frank King
Frank King
Frank King, The Mental Health Comedian, was a writer for The Tonight Show for 20 years.

Depression and suicide run his family. He’s thought about killing himself more times than he can count. He’s lived with Major Depressive Disorder and Chronic Suicidality turning that long dark journey of the soul into 5 TEDx Talks, and sharing his lifesaving insights with corporation, association and college audiences.

Coming out, as it were, and standing in his truth, and doing it with humor.

He believes that where there is humor there is hope, where there is laughter there is life, nobody dies laughing. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/27

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.

Sue Klebold and cover.png
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. For more information on this and every episode go to 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.

Pictures of Chris and Adam growing up.
Pictures of Chris and Adam growing up.

ABOUT MASTER SERGEANT CHRISTOPHER D. JACHIMIEC
Chris J headshot.png
Master Sergeant Christopher D. Jachimiec is the Section Chief, Quality Assurance for the 99th Communications Squadron, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. He serves as the principal advisor to the commander on cyberspace policy, evaluations and compliance for 130 assigned individuals and provides guidance on cyberspace efforts to six wings and over 52 tenant organizations. He leads 20 Wing Inspection Team members who ensure established directives and public law is being adhered to. He advises and mentors organizations and teams on continuous process improvement and problem solving methods.

Chris J and plane.jpg
Sergeant Jachimiec was born in Palos Park, Illinois in 1980 and graduated from Muskego High School in Muskego, Wisconsin in 1999. He entered the Air Force in September 1999. His background includes various duties in the Security Forces and Radio Frequency Transmission Systems career fields along with service in the First Sergeant Special Duty Identifier. His stateside assignments include Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases and his overseas assignments include Osan Air Base and Ramstein Air Base. His deployment experience includes tours to Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait and Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Additionally, Sergeant Jachimiec was one of thirty Airmen selected to augment the United States Secret Service during the 2012 Presidential Campaign, is a certified Master Resilience Trainer and leads peer support groups in the local community. For more information on this and every episode go to 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.”

The order of how life is supposed to go is disrupted, and it takes a long time to make sense out of what happened. People often stumble around in their suicide grief state while other things start to fall apart around them. Families can sometimes also find resilience and even transformation during their recovery pathway.

What about the people who surround the parents bereaved by suicide — the first responders, the coroners, the funeral home directors, the healthcare providers? Sometimes these people are also so shocked they don’t know how to support the family. Sometimes these people are also fellow grievers.

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.

Sharon headshot.jpg
About Dr. Sharon McDonnell
Dr Sharon McDonnell is the Managing Director of Suicide Bereavement UK and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (UoM). She has specialized in suicide bereavement research for 18 years and is considered to be one of the leading researchers in this field in the UK.

Prior to setting up Suicide Bereavement UK, Sharon was employed by the University of Manchester. During this time her research team developed PABBS (Postvention: Assisting those Bereaved by Suicide) evidence-based suicide bereavement training, which was informed by a 3yr study funded by government and first of its kind internationally.

Sharon’s team is currently conducting a national suicide bereavement survey, which is being conducted at the UoM in collaboration with Support After Suicide Partnership. Over 7,000 people have completed it, making it the largest suicide bereavement survey internationally. A report will be launched 25th Sept 2019 at Suicide Bereavement UK’s 8th international suicide bereavement conference. The findings will be of national and international importance.



[email protected]

Twitter: @SJMcDonn For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/24