Join the Movement: What Crisis Centers Can Do to Elevate the Conversation of Lived Expertise

There's Melodee, my girlfriend, next to John Draper.

After losing my brother to suicide in 2004, I realized that working in suicide prevention was my calling and have never looked back. The first people who were instrumental in my journey were other people bereaved by suicide who let me know that I wasn't alone and that there was a road to healing from the unbearable grief I felt.  For me peers with shared lived experience provided the best insights and offered a glimmer of hope.

In 2007, I attended my first American Association of Suicidology conference with its Healing after Suicide gathering. It was there I met John Draper and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline team and was instantly impressed with their innovation, effectiveness, and inclusivity.

On March 6^th, 2014, I had the honor of attending the first ever "Lighting the Way Forward National Summit on Lived Experience in Suicide" in San Francisco. This historic event brought together over 20 leaders, policy makers, behavioral health professionals, suicide prevention advocates – and over half of the room identified themselves as suicide attempt survivors as well. Among many hot topics of the day, one predominant theme was how our field could talk less about "safety" and more about "recovery." 

Now, as the Co-Chair of the Consumer-Survivor Subcommittee, these three events come together with a new purpose for me: to support the emerging movement of suicide attempt survivors as they advocate for dignity and their right to be heard.

This is the social justice issue of our day, and crisis centers can play a major role in moving it forward.

Many of you have spent countless hours helping people with suicidal crises through their darkest hours. Now I ask you to join us in the effort to help create a meaningful place at the table for people who have survived their own suicide attempt and bring incredible expertise to help us improve our prevention and intervention practices.

What can you do?

• On an individual level, become an ally. An ally is an activist, advocate and supporter for a community other than their own. They intentionally reach across differences to achieve mutually defined goals of inclusivity and equality. Ask yourself – as leaders in crisis support, how can you listen more and then join your individual voice to the movement?
• On an organizational level, you can:
• Facilitate listening sessions with suicide attempt survivors on how to improve crisis center practices.
• Help disseminate and promote discussion about the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention's Suicide Attempt Survivor Task Force's publication "The Way Forward"
• Identify your organization's primary affiliation as "Suicide Attempt Survivor/Lived Experience" with the American Association of Suicidology
• Try to achieve 25% of your board membership, staff composition, or other leadership roles with people who have lived experience of directly engaging in suicidal behavior/thoughts or of indirectly supporting someone who has had these experiences.
• Find ways to continue to follow up and assist suicide attempt survivors and those who love and support them long after the crisis call is over.
• Highlight stories of hope and recovery at every opportunity – in your newsletters, on your websites, through awards you give, in the media, etc.

Sally Spencer-Thomas, CEO & Co-Founder, Carson J Spencer Foundation, Co-Chair Consumer/Survivor Subcommittee, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​

Original post on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Blog