By Kyle Duva, Summer 2009
Every 39 seconds, a person attempts suicide, according to a 2005 report by the Centers for Disease Control. Every 16 minutes someone completes that attempt, the report stated. I am perplexed as to why suicide education is absent in the curriculum at CSPP. Aside from several students, most of my colleagues at CSPP have not studied suicide. I couldn’t help but wonder if others at CSPP feel comfortable handling suicidal clients?
For the past several months I have worked for a crisis/suicide hotline. In addition, I recently started monitoring a suicidal teen chat room. Prior to my training at San Francisco Suicide Prevention (SFSP), I had little experience with suicide. SFSP has helped me considerably in dealing with various crisis situations including: Depression, anger, anxiety, loneliness, bereavement, and other strong emotions.
When I asked classmates if they knew what to do if their client was threatening suicide, many students just stared at me in panic. I broached the subject with professors at CSPP and asked them for their opinion. All advocated for crisis training and suicide education. Some professors even divulged that they had lost several patients to suicide. When will CSPP emphasize this training?
For more information, visit www.sfsuicide.org or www.suicidology.org.