World Suicide Prevention Day

It's not until Monday, but the newspaper editor chose to publish my annual letter today. Maybe more people will read it on a Saturday than a Monday. Who knows.
This time around, I tried to focus on teenagers.

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/suicide-prevention-a-responsibility-of-all-of-us/article_791dc836-f965-11e1-8cdd-0019bb2963f4.html

Oh, and I didn't choose the title, they did.

Another step closer

A few years ago, members of the Bridge Rail Foundation (I was part of that group) visited local lawmakers to explain about the need for a suicide barrier and the need for funds. I believe it was Lynn Woolsey who sponsored adding language, although the article mentioned Barbara Boxer, to an upcoming highway transportation bill about funding for barriers. That bill was stalled in Washington for ages but finally passed.

http://www.marinij.com/sausalito/ci_21023815/transportation-bill-makes-golden-gate-bridge-suicide-barrier

Here's the relevant paragraph:

"The new transportation bill contains crucial wording allowing funding for suicide prevention including safety rails and nets on bridges, said officials for the Sausalito-based Bridge Rail Foundation. The language in the bill also clarifies that institutions such as the Golden Gate Bridge District — a special purpose district — are eligible for these funds."

Of course, the battle to procure those funds isn't over, but it's another step along the loooooong path.

Means matter

An article from the Harvard School of Public Health talks about suicide, how means make a huge difference (e.g. availability of a firearm in a household, lack of barriers etc.).
Haven't we said that all along?

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/

Facebook and suicide

I'm not always a big fan of Facebook (even though I've been on there for over 4 years now) but I like this:

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/notes/facebook-safety/new-partnership-between-facebook-and-the-national-suicide-prevention-lifeline/310287485658707

Apparently, it'll now be possible to report it if somebody makes a suicidal comment. That person should then receive an email from Facebook with info on who to contact - either to call a helpline or to talk online with a crisis worker.

Let's hope it works.

World Suicide Prevention Day

It's not until Saturday, but I sent in my annual letter to the editor early and it's in today's paper. I wasn't sure they'd print it. I had written a rather angry and fierce letter earlier this year and it was not printed. But here it is:

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/a-permanent-solution-to-a-temporary-problem/article_e2e54508-d9b5-11e0-8f56-001cc4c002e0.html

And, no, I won't be reading the comments. I just don't have a thick enough skin.

Grants for suicide prevention

http://www.newswise.com/articles/suicide-prevention-funds-awarded-to-states-and-tribes#.Tl_MQ3YL92A.facebook

This article talks about grants provided to states and tribes for youth suicide prevention. It's a good thing and I am not at all surprised that quite a lot of the funds go to Native American Tribes. Suicide is a disproportionally larger problem there than in the general population.

Hands across the bridge

This happened yesterday. No, I wasn't there for a variety of reasons. Wish I could have been.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugJWxOpd5NA

Bridge Rail Foundation Conference and Workshop

The Bridge Rail Foundation will hold a conference and workshop in San Francisco on November 6, 2010.
More information to be found here:

http://www.bridgerail.org/

Preventing teen suicide

This was on CBS this morning:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6923266n&tag=channelMore%3BlatestRight

I don't know how to put up this clickable video thingy, so, it's just a simple link.

It's not just about the GGB. It mentions Tyler Clementi and a few programs meant to help young people at risk. Well worth watching.

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day

And the editor published my letter here:

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_98ea6408-bcfe-11df-8dbf-001cc4c002e0.html

I only write about once a year. Henry didn't have a very high opinion of people who wrote to newspaper editors. He wouldn't appreciate it. And I wouldn't do this if things were different.

I mostly recycled last year's (blog and FB) info and added a bit: warning signs and risk factors.

Golden Gate Bridge event last Sunday

I don't know how to link to a You Tube video so that the actual video shows up here, so you'll just have to make do with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9bKeBCBxKs

Info about it is here on Facebook and I wish I had attended .................

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=134344396576414

I find it very hard to watch the video without tearing up and I'm so bloody stoic that doesn't happen often.

Pepsi Refresh Project

I'm sure by now we've all seen those Pepsi Refresh commercials. Obviously, we all want to save the planet, live as green as possible and support a lot of the projects mentioned there.
Here's a new one: engage high school teachers in teen suicide prevention. The details are in the clickable link up above and everybody can vote (more than once daily).
Obviously, teen suicide prevention is something that's very important to me - I think everybody who reads this blog knows that. So, let me just repeat a few facts:
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.
One out of every high school students has a suicide plan, the numbers go up in college.
Many, if not most, suicides are impulsive, brought on by something the teenager could most likely deal with at any other time, but not at that moment.
Obviously, mental illness is a factor, as is substance abuse.
But knowing how to recognize the signs of depression, knowing how to deal with it and possible suicidal thoughts would go a long way towards helping.
So, please if you read this, consider voting and if you agree, please repost the link on your blog, Facebook page or wherever you can reach people. Thank you!
Here's the link again:
http://www.refresheverything.com/teendepression

Fort Campbell suspends regular duties in favor of suicide prevention training

This morning, the local TV station I watch ran this through on the bottom of the screen. I managed to find the story online.
I found it interesting because just recently one of the members of the Bridge Rail Foundation was invited to speak at Quantico about just this and just two weeks ago, I was discussing the rising rate of suicide in the military with another member of the BRF who works in a veteran's home nearby.

More on the suicide awareness walk

This was in the local media:

KCBS - Rally Draws Support for Suicide Barrier for Bridge

The suicide walk

I'm having a hard time getting the right words together, so for now, it'll be mostly pictures and whatever comes to mind.

There are so many things that go through my mind: the people, the hugs, the speeches, the feeling of not being alone is all this.

It was such a beautiful day, sunny, warm, just enough of a breeze to keep all of us comfy while we walked. There were over 400 people there, possibly more than 500, all because they lost someone the same way: suicide, unexpectedly.

We arrived in plenty of time to register, find the other members of our team (most of whom I had never met before), get our raffle tickets, sign a petition here and there, pick up our beads (white for a lost child, blue for supporting the cause; there were other colors, too, red, green, purple for a lost spouse, relative, friend). There was an MC, two speakers, Senator Tom Torlakson and Ken Holmes, the Marin County Coroner, both of whom have lost somebody to suicide. The speeches were short and to the point (why can't we discuss suicide the same way as heart disease, cancer and bring it out of the darkness and into the light?), there was a brief warm-up and then we started our walk.

Our team consisted of 10 members, Rachel (my facebook friend), her mother (who started the team), her brother who provided the hockey sticks the posters were attached to; Casey's parents, Erika and John; several classmates and friends of Casey and Larry and I.

Rachel and her family had made 3 posters with pictures of Casey and Henry and several of us carried those throughout the whole 5 km. Those were a sure conversation starter. I carried one of them for the whole 5 km only handing it off to Larry when I wanted to take pictures.

The walk went off without a problem, there was a drawings for several prizes (2 trips to Mexico, dinners at various restaurants, golf at a nice course etc.) and Rachel's brother won tickets for Six Flags something we were all thrilled about.

There were team photos - it'll be a while before those are available - a moment of silence and then it was over.

My group, the Bridge Rail Foundation, had collected over 1,400 pairs of shoes (I need to update the number later when I get an exact count - the exact count is 1,560) to represent the people who have jumped from the bridge. The official count is at 1,300 but that is too low. There are plenty of people (including quite a few in our group) who are not included so it was important to many of us to have more than 1,300 pairs to remember the ones not counted.

I'm uploading as many pictures as blogger lets me. There may be more later.

I didn't mean to write quite so much and I'm sure there is more to be said, that'll have to wait.

The kindness of (almost) strangers

I received an email this morning informing me that I had been tagged in a note on facebook. Having no idea what that meant, I went onto facebook to check the note, clicked on a few links and found this:

DonorDrive™ - AFSP Community Walks

One of my facebook friends, a young girl I haven't met (yet), and her family very kindly did this for the Brooks family and us.

I am so touched, I am almost speechless.

Added later: I obviously was speechless because I meant to add this: I did not post the link because I want people to make donations. Please do not in any way feel obligated to do this. I really was touched, overwhelmed by yet another example of how kind people are/have been to us all along.

Teen suicides from Golden Gate Bridge

No explanation necessary:

Teen suicides from Golden Gate Bridge churn barrier debate - Marin Independent Journal

We need more votes

Even though the votes are starting to go in the right direction, we need still more votes in favor of a barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge.

The deadline for voting is August 25 - coming up very soon.

It's the number one suicide magnet in the world with a total of 1,300 deaths so far (officially) but most likely closer to 2,00 deaths. On average, 20 - 40 people jump from that bridge annually and 98% do not survive. And every year, the police who patrol the bridge prevent 60 - 80 people from jumping. The original design for the bridge included a suicide barrier but, for some reason, it wasn't built. The first death occurred within days of the bridge's opening. There are been several studies about the feasibility of a suicide barrier and, everytime this came to a vote, the barrier was voted down.

Here is the link to viewing the various proposed alternatives for a barrier:

https://www.commentmgr.com/projects/1181/docs/Alts-withLabels.pdf
This is a PDF file and it takes a while to load. Please be patient.

Here is where you get to vote and comment:

Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Deterrent Barrier

I've noticed that in the last few days these links have been very slow to load. Again, please be patient.

If you have a few more minutes, please consider signing the petition by the Whitmer family. They, too, lost a child:
Raise the Rails - Save a Life - The Petition Site
It has signatures from all over the world, some pretty exotic places.

And, please, consider forwarding this post and/or the links to as many of your friends as you can. And if those friends have the usual Bay Area response: Let 'em jump! or Those who want to kill themselves will do it anyway! - point them to this article:

The Urge to End It - Understanding Suicide - NYTimes.com
It gives three compelling examples that suicides often are impulsive and, yes, they can be stopped when the easy means are taken away.

Thank you!

The Bridge Authority Open House

Yesterday, we attended the first open house the Golden Gate Bridge Authority held in San Rafael so the public could see pictures of the proposed designs for the various suicide barriers, vote on computers set up specifically for this purpose and talk to bridge officials. I didn't do the latter, that's something I still have to work up to. Nevermind that the reporter (yes, I talked to the press even though I was determined not to) from the Chronicle called us activists (her word, not ours) in her article, I'm much too new at this sort of thing to go up to total strangers.
One of the fathers who lost his only child, a daughter of 17, in January did work the room very well. He talked to just about every official and I hope at the next meeting I'll be able to do something along those lines.

We were supposed to wear nametags (and a few of us did) to put a human face to the losses. I spent quite a lot of time on mine - cutting and pasting (and I mean scisscors and tape).

I did, however, introduce myself to several people at the meeting, but they were all "good guys," people from the Bridge Rail Foundation, the police captain who is in charge of patrols on the bridge and quite a few other survivors. I also got to meet Kevin Hines, one of the less than 2% who have jumped and survived.

Going to the meeting was very much a last minute decision but I am glad we went. Now I can put faces to names I knew from newsletters, emails and through facebook. I got to meet the man who does a lot of the PR for the group; Ken Holmes, the Marin County Coroner (who is a very outspoken proponent of a barrier), and several other parents who have lost their children. Unlike us, though, the bodies of their children haven't been found and their losses are much newer than ours and it was heartbreaking talking to them. Just like us, they are trying to do what they can to prevent what happened to us from happening to others.

If you have already voted for a suicide barrier, thank you very much.
If you haven't had a chance to, please, please consider doing so. It would mean so much to us (and many other survivors). The opposition is still fierce but there is very compelling evidence that a barrier will prevent suicides on the bridge.
So, please take a few minutes to look over the various designs:

https://www.commentmgr.com/projects/1181/docs/Alts-withLabels.pdf

and then vote (and, please, don't vote for "no change"):

Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Deterrent Barrier

You are asked to leave comments on every design, not necessary. A comment to the effect that lives are more important than a pretty view or something along those lines is enough.

Thank you.

The Urge to End It All

This is an article that appeared in the New York Times on July 6 and I finally read it - pencil in hand to underline the important bits. It's recommended reading for those of us with an interest in having a suicide barrier built on the Golden Gate Bridge, especially if we are going to the Open Houses today and tomorrow (I'm only going once) to possibly talk with bridge officials. I draw the line at talking to the press.

I have done quite a bit of reading about suicide over the past 14 months, but found things in this article I didn't know yet (everybody studying suicide has a different theory about the "why" and different opinions on predictability and whether anything can be done about it).

This article concentrated on impulsive suicides which tend to be more deadly than those that are premeditated. I didn't know that, but I did know that jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the deadliest forms of suicide: less than 2% of jumpers survive. Gunshots are 85-92% fatal, overdoses, poisonings even less so. Couldn't find numbers on hangings, the most common form in Germany (my father was a homicide detective and cut plenty of people out of trees).
Of special interest was the study by Richard Seiden, a professor at UC Berkeley who found that of the 515 people who were prevented from jumping between 1937 and 1971, only 6% went on to take their lives.

Anyway, enough editorializing, I highly recommend reading this article and, just in case the link in the title doesn't work, here it is again:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin