Preventing Suicide: A Handbook for Pastors, Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors by Karen Mason

Author:Karen Mason [Mason, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780830896479
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2014-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

Supporting Family and Community Members

Family and other helpers own many tasks following a suicide attempt, and pastoral caregivers can support them in these tasks.

Follow through on treatment. Some helpers might be tempted not to follow through with mental health treatment after a suicide crisis. They may say, “Maria learned her lesson. She won’t do it again. I don’t have time to take her [to therapy].”11 Research tells us that many people like Maria never attend any follow-up sessions and fail to complete a full course of treatment.12 We also know that it’s vital that Maria get treatment in order to reduce the risk of further suicidal behavior.13 Pastors, chaplains and pastoral counselors can help by identifying the barriers. Does Maria’s mom understand how crucial follow-up treatment is? Does Maria need a ride?

Get education. One of the most important tasks for the family and community to undertake once a suicide crisis has occurred is to get education about the warning signs, especially Maria’s specific signs, so they can recognize future risk.14 The general warning signs of suicide are helpful and the mental health treatment team can provide information about specific warning signs for Maria.15 This information is often found in the safety plan. It’s important to encourage family and community members to request a copy of the safety plan because they might be part of it. Pastoral caregivers can let them know that the law allows parents and guardians of minors to obtain this information without a release of information and allows an adult patient to give written permission for the treatment team to release confidential information. Pastors, chaplains and pastoral counselors can also check to see if safety plan steps are clear, specific and include how to contact the treatment team during and after office hours. Preferably, the instructions are written and understood by all.

Pastoral caregivers can clarify for the family or community the importance of a hope kit with reasons to live.16 Asarnow and colleagues provide this example of a hope kit, which included:

Pictures of her friends and family (reminders that there were people who loved her and whom she loved), her journal (a cue to write in her journal, a coping strategy on her safety plan), coping cards listing [helpful thoughts], her gym membership card (a reminder that exercise was on her safety plan), her parents’ and friends’ phone numbers (cues to call and seek social support), a washcloth (a cue to use the coping strategy of placing a cool washcloth on her face and focusing on the cool sensations), and the location and telephone number of the nearest emergency department (an emergency coping strategy).17

Knowing the appropriate warning signs will help family and friends avoid a tendency to overpathologize normal behaviors or underpathologize suicidal behaviors. Miller and colleagues have noticed that:

Parents’ judgments of what behaviors are “dangerous” or “abnormal” have become steadfastly colored by the shadow of past suicide attempts or hospitalizations. . . . [One] parent realized that kids miss school on occasion because of illness, but

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