VIDEO: Shedding stigma for advocacy, suicide attempt survivors find a voice

LOS ANGELES – Suicide attempt survivors are overcoming the stigma of talking about their attempts and joining together to demand a voice in suicide prevention efforts. Researchers and leaders in the field are hearing that voice and acknowledging them as sources of insight and advocacy that, for too long, have been largely ignored.

Among the signs of that shift – and due largely to their lobbying – the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) recently formed a division for attempt-survivors and launched a blog on the topic.

"It’s a critical voice. There’s no better advocate for mental well-being than someone who has been on the edge of life and death and chosen a path of recovery," said AAS President William Schmitz Jr., Psy.D.

Asked for an example of how this new voice might help, he noted that "there are a lot of clinicians out there who are not trained in the assessment and management of suicidality. I’ve heard stories from some of our attempt survivors that are truly scary – very negative, hostile encounters with the health care system." People who’ve experienced it firsthand offer "a chance for us to open that dialogue," he said at the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology.

Cara Anna, a journalist and attempt-survivor who helped spearhead the AAS lobbying campaign, stated her case for us at the meeting. She’s a prominent voice in the attempt-survivor community.

LOS ANGELES – Suicide attempt survivors are overcoming the stigma of talking about their attempts and joining together to demand a voice in suicide prevention efforts. Researchers and leaders in the field are hearing that voice and acknowledging them as sources of insight and advocacy that, for too long, have been largely ignored.

Among the signs of that shift – and due largely to their lobbying – the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) recently formed a division for attempt-survivors and launched a blog on the topic.

"It’s a critical voice. There’s no better advocate for mental well-being than someone who has been on the edge of life and death and chosen a path of recovery," said AAS President William Schmitz Jr., Psy.D.

Asked for an example of how this new voice might help, he noted that "there are a lot of clinicians out there who are not trained in the assessment and management of suicidality. I’ve heard stories from some of our attempt survivors that are truly scary – very negative, hostile encounters with the health care system." People who’ve experienced it firsthand offer "a chance for us to open that dialogue," he said at the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology.

Cara Anna, a journalist and attempt-survivor who helped spearhead the AAS lobbying campaign, stated her case for us at the meeting. She’s a prominent voice in the attempt-survivor community.

LOS ANGELES – Suicide attempt survivors are overcoming the stigma of talking about their attempts and joining together to demand a voice in suicide prevention efforts. Researchers and leaders in the field are hearing that voice and acknowledging them as sources of insight and advocacy that, for too long, have been largely ignored.

Among the signs of that shift – and due largely to their lobbying – the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) recently formed a division for attempt-survivors and launched a blog on the topic.

"It’s a critical voice. There’s no better advocate for mental well-being than someone who has been on the edge of life and death and chosen a path of recovery," said AAS President William Schmitz Jr., Psy.D.

Asked for an example of how this new voice might help, he noted that "there are a lot of clinicians out there who are not trained in the assessment and management of suicidality. I’ve heard stories from some of our attempt survivors that are truly scary – very negative, hostile encounters with the health care system." People who’ve experienced it firsthand offer "a chance for us to open that dialogue," he said at the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology.

Cara Anna, a journalist and attempt-survivor who helped spearhead the AAS lobbying campaign, stated her case for us at the meeting. She’s a prominent voice in the attempt-survivor community.