More of us can feel suicidal than we feel we can say out loud.
Systems of oppression are hostile to life, and make us feel like we can’t be here. Our suicide prevention care doesn’t consider how systemic oppression like colonization, capitalism, and patriarchy impacts suicidal ideation. Mainstream suicide care currently centers institutions and police, which can be dangerous and traumatizing. This Suicide Prevention Month, we explore why our suicide care is inadequate, the systemic reasons why people feel suicidal, and talk about some harm reduction tools like mutual aid, moving our bodies, and ancestral practices to keep being here and how we can dismantle these systems to make our planet easier to live in.
This episode is not intended as medical advice, but as education.
Non-police, non-carceral suicide support and prevention resources:
https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/contact#crisis - mental health resources and crisis services phone lines that won’t involve the police
https://dontcallthepolice.com/ - community based alternatives to police in your city
Purchase the Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook
Book a 1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me
Subscribe to our Patreon
$3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable!
Timestamps
00:00 intro to suicide prevention and systemic oppression
01:50 difference between active and passive suicidal ideation
04:17 suicide statistics
05:54 suicide statistics among LGBTQ2S+ youth
07:09 how colonial patriarchy can make us feel suicidal
13:38 Capitalism’s impact on suicidal ideation
15:17 colonization and capitalism make us lonely
18:48 my experience with suicidal ideation
21:18 The inadequacy of mainstream suicide care and response
31:24 the dangers of police involvement in suicide and crisis care
33:06 alternatives to police-based suicide and crisis care
34:31 dismantling systemic oppression as suicide prevention
34:49 mutual aid and direct aid are life-saving
34:58 non profits won’t save us
37:21 community care saves our lives
39:23 chosen family can help resist oppression
43:01 harm reduction tips to keep on living
43:09 music and media as harm reduction
46:46 leaning on ancestral practices to keep living
47:35 more harm reduction tips
51:11 our existence as resistance
53:34 caring for each other as resistance
57:10 deconditioning from oppression to save our lives
58:24 doing our best to be here :)
