November 15, 2021 • 49 mins
Ever wondered why suicide prevention awareness is necessary? Did you know that social workers play an instrumental role in preventing suicide deaths? Do you know a social worker in suicide prevention practice? In this episode, an overview on the national strategy to prevent suicide is offered along with a few facts about suicide deaths in the United States. Licensed clinical social worker, Kattina D. Bryant, joins the show to discuss her journey to become a suicide prevention practitioner, some practice strategies, challenges, as well as some highly favored resources regularly used in practice. Listen for insights and advice to support your journey to becoming a suicide prevention practitioner or to save a person in crisis. Enjoy the show!
*This episode including the featured interview were previously recorded in September 2021.
Helpful Resources
Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Toolkit: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/research-conducted-at-nimh/asq-toolkit-materials
Better Ways to Prevent Suicide: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/07-08/cover-prevent-suicide
Brief History of Suicide Prevention in the United States: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK109918/
How Social Workers Can Play a Role in Suicide Prevention: https://www.socialworkdegreecenter.com/study/suicide-prevention-social-work/
How to Increase the Role of Social Workers in Suicide Prevention Interventions: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/acta-neuropsychiatrica/article/abs/how-to-increase-the-role-of-social-workers-in-suicide-preventive-interventions/442EF9D9C447EB9B3233A0643F15504D
Reviewing Suicide Prevention Skills: https://www.socialworktoday.com/news/enews_1016_1.shtml
Suicide Prevention is Every Social Worker’s Business: https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/JF19p10.shtml
Suicide and Suicide Prevention – PSYCOM: https://www.psycom.net/depression.central.suicide.html
Suicide Prevention is Possible – SAVE: https://save.org/about-suicide/preventing-suicide/
Suicide Prevention Resource Center: https://www.sprc.org/training
The CAMS Framework (suicide prevention training): https://cams-care.com/
The Columbia Lighthouse Project –Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale: https://cssrs.columbia.edu/
What to do when someone is suicidal: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/suicide/in-depth/suicide/art-20044707
Credits
Host: Dr. Sherece Shavel
Theme Narration: Ronald Coaxum
Guest: Kattina D. Bryant, LCSW, contact by phone & email: 865-221-7399; bkattina@yahoo.com
Do you have a question you want answered in a future show? Do you have topic ideas or feedback to support creation of future shows? Would you like to be a guest?
Connect with me through email. Send messages to: ssinspiredcast@gmail.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
[inaudible]
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Sundays with Chevelle, uh, social work
inspired podcast with creatorand host Dr.
Shariece Chevelle.
This is a bi-monthly show whereeach episode aims to inspire
topics relevant to social workpractice, growing forward,
living on purpose and so muchmore.
(00:33):
Thank you for tuning in.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hello, Sunday listeners.
This is your host, Dr.
Shariece Chevelle.
Thank you so much for tuning inand welcome to episode five,
talking suicide prevention,ladies and gentlemen, a few days
ago, I had the pleasure ofsitting down with one of my
social work colleagues to talkabout the issue of suicide and
(01:06):
the work of suicide preventionhearing about her experiences
and her perspectives was notonly insightful, but also
valuable for me personally.
But before getting to thisinterview, I have a question.
Have you ever wondered whysuicide prevention is necessary?
I never wondered that really myown personal experience around
(01:30):
this issue during the earlieryears of my life made the
necessity of prevention quiteclear to me.
However, I often wonder if otherpeople knew why suicide
prevention was necessary.
Thinking back to my earlierdays, the issue of suicide was
considered not much of an issueat all.
Really.
It was considered more liketaboo contrary to the very
(01:53):
nature of the people in mycommunity.
And if there was an issue or ifthere was an occurrence, there
was no conversation about it.
And when there was anoccurrence, there was question
as to whether that person wasquote unquote part of us,
because quote unquote, we don'tdo that.
(02:15):
The thinking and attitudes ofyesteryear have long since been
debunked.
And we know that there is norespect of person when it comes
to suicide, meaning it is not anissue for just any one
community.
It's not an issue for anyoneethnicity or age or gender, et
(02:35):
cetera.
The experience of mental,emotional, and spiritual
challenges is an issue of humancon.
No matter your variety oflikeness, just by virtue of you
being a human being, it's anissue.
We are all subject to thesechallenges and as well, subject
to being impacted by those inour community, experiencing
(02:58):
these challenges just by virtueof being human.
For that reason alone suicideprevention is necessary.
The history of social effortstowards suicide prevention in
the United States is understoodto have as beginning in the
1950s.
And this is according to areport published by the United
States surgeon general and thenational action Alliance for
(03:21):
suicide prevention.
The first suicide preventioncenter was established in Los
Angeles, California in 1958 in1983, the centers for disease
control and prevention put aspotlight on youth suicide with
the creation of a violenceprevention unit.
And this prompted the UnitedStates department of health and
(03:43):
human services to establish atask force on youth suicide,
which published preventionrecommendations in 1989.
The national organization forpeople of color against suicide
was established in 1998.
The national suicide preventionlifeline was established in 2001
by the substance abuse andmental health services
(04:04):
administration also known asSAMHSA.
This was followed by two keyfederal policy initiatives, the
Garrett Lee Smith Memorial actin 2004 and the Joshua on big
veterans suicide prevention actin 2007.
The national lines of suicideprevention was established in
2010.
(04:25):
And the national strategy forsuicide prevention was revised
in 2012.
There were foundations such aslife keeper and the Jason
foundation that were founded aswell as other notable
initiatives.
The point that I'm making isthat the degree of effort made
and is being made today toprevent suicide deaths supports
(04:49):
this notion that suicideprevention is necessary.
Now, this is a small snapshotregarding the efforts taken to
tackle this issue of suicide inthe United States, since the
1950s, so much more has beendone and so much more is being
done today.
But moving farther to evidence,the available reporting about
(05:11):
suicide is important and it'simportant because it helps us to
better understand the magnitudeof this problem.
So I did a brief search for somestatistical data, and here is
what I found the Americanfoundation for suicide
prevention, highlighted somestatistical results from the
2019 fatal injury report thatwas published by the CDC.
(05:33):
They noted that in 2019,approximately one point 38
million suicide attemptsoccurred.
And there were 47,511 deaths bysuicide.
According to a report publishedby the United States surgeon
general and the national actionAlliance for suicide prevention.
The rate of suicide deaths amongmen increases with age while the
(05:57):
rate of suicide deaths amongwomen decreases with age, the
2019 fatal injury report alsostated that men died by suicide
three and a half times moreoften as women.
And according to the nationalAlliance on mental illness, 78%
of all people who die by suicideare male.
(06:18):
Suicide attempts are elevatedamong adolescents and female
adolescents attempted suicide.
Two times more often as maleadolescents, and one other
statistic that I want to know ofall suicide deaths in 2019 50%
involved use of a firearm.
This is clear evidence thatsuicide prevention is necessary.
(06:42):
Suicide prevention is an area offocus in the social work
profession.
And as you know, I am a socialworker and social work practice
is all about enhancing humanwellbeing, which means our
attention is on enhancing thelived experience of people
toward the betterment ofsociety.
When it comes to suicideprevention, there are a number
of roles that social workersassume, and they assume these
(07:05):
roles in order to prevent injuryand death by persons
experiencing a suicidal crisis,doing this work, the work of
suicide prevention, it can bequite complex.
And at the very core of thiswork is the need to be
compassionate, caring, alert, aswell as nonjudgmental social
(07:26):
work practitioners are expectedto exemplify these
characteristics in theirprofessional work.
It's a part of our code ofethics during my time of need to
compassionate, caring, alert,and non-judgemental social
workers became my lifeline.
And I'm proud to be a socialworker today because of them
because of the influence andimpact that they've made on my
(07:48):
life so many years ago, in myopinion, social workers are
uniquely qualified to advancesuicide prevention practice to
reduce attempts as well asoccurrences.
In fact, social workers were atthe forefront of efforts to
implement the national strategyMSW Dr.
Jerry Reed at the time, he wasthe vice president and director
(08:10):
of the suicide preventionresource center, but he served
as co-leader of the nationalstrategy for suicide prevention,
task force, and several MSWpractitioners served as members
of the task force.
It was because of the practiceand advocacy of clinicians,
social workers included that wehave the wealth of resources at
the community level to addressthe needs of individuals,
(08:33):
particularly those experiencingsuicidal crisis to prevent
injury and death.
In my opinion, social workersare vital in this work because
social workers play such aninstrumental role in preventing
suicide attempts, as well assuicide deaths.
I want us to talk with a socialworker actively doing this work
in honor of national suicideprevention month.
(08:54):
I invited a licensed social workpractitioner to share her
experiences with suicideprevention.
For those of you who areaspiring social workers, seeking
an area of the field topractice, it might be beneficial
to hear this social worker'sperspective as it relates to
suicide prevention practice.
Otherwise hearing about thisword from a practitioner, in my
(09:15):
opinion, emphasizes howimportant it is to help save a
person in crisis.
My guest, Mrs.
Katina D Bryant is a suicideprevention practitioner.
She is a licensed clinicalsocial worker committed to
helping people flourish withintheir environment, through
mental health wellness.
She has over 16 years ofexperience and practice with
(09:36):
youth, adults and families thatare in crisis experience in
depression, anxiety,relationship problems, trauma,
or other complex psychiatricconcerns.
And currently Katina manages aprivate practice where she
utilizes training and eyemovement, desensitization and
reprocessing solution-focusedbrief therapy, motivational
(09:58):
interviewing moral recognitiontherapy and other evidence-based
methods.
Additionally, she has apart-time faculty member for the
MSW program at Bayloruniversity's Garland school of
social work, and she teachesadvanced clinical practice in
health settings.
I'm so glad that I had theopportunity to sit down and talk
to Katina about her experiencesas well as her perspectives.
(10:19):
Now, our conversation waspreviously recorded and it
begins with Katina sharing, howshe got started as a social
worker.
After hearing that response, sheshares her experiences in work
as a suicide preventionpractitioner, stay tuned to hear
about container Brian'sexperience.
And I will meet you at theconclusion of this conversation.
(10:39):
Enjoy the interview.
Hey, Katrina.
How are you?
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much for coming.
I know you have a really busyschedule and this topic of
suicide prevention.
I automatically thought aboutyou because I know that this is
(11:01):
your area of expertise, and Iwant it so much for you coming
to share some of your knowledge,your experience, as well as some
information with regards toresources with our audience, so
that they can not only becomemore aware of, but also move to
action, because this is a topicthat requires some action right
(11:22):
now.
So thank you so much for takingout the time in your day to come
and join me so good to have you,but before we actually get going
on talking about the topic ofsuicide prevention, I asked this
of all of my guests, everyoneanswers this question.
And the question that I want toask you is why social work, what
(11:44):
led you to want to become asocial worker?
Well, that is a great question.
And I'll be honest thatsometimes I feel like I'm still
figuring it out.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Um, I know, um, I know without a doubt, without
any question, mental fault is myCollin.
Um, being able to work withfamilies, communities, um, in
the mental health sphere, Ibelieve.
And I know without a doubt thatthis is where I supposed to be.
Um, as far as social work goes,I started out, I wanted to be a
(12:14):
school counselor because Iwanted to make a difference and
I got my bachelor's inpsychology.
I was actually looking up, um,programs to get my master's in
psychology.
Um, in fact would be a schoolcounselor.
Um, and after doing someresearch, um, they, I had to
teach for, for two years to be aschool counselor.
And I didn't want to be ateacher.
Like I knew I didn't want to dothat.
(12:37):
Um, and, um, and so aftertalking to some people, visiting
the different schools, talkingto counselors, I realized what I
truly wants to be was a schoolsocial worker.
And so that's how I ended up insocial work because I was, I was
one of those people that thoughtsocial workers were the people
that came in, take kids awayfrom their home, you know?
(12:58):
Um, and so I, yes, that wholestereotype, that was me when it
comes to social workers, becauseit just didn't know.
And, and at that time I thoughtlike, no, I don't want to do
that.
But when I realized socialworkers are the, when you're
talking about working in themental health field, you know,
we are the majority, uh,professionals in this field.
And so, um, I became a, Idecided to get my master's in
(13:22):
social worker goal was to becomea licensed clinical social
worker.
So I do private practice, but Ireally wants to work with
students.
And, um, and I think my journeyis a great testimony that we
could have all these plans ofhow we want our career be, uh,
to be, but sometimes God has adifferent plan than that.
Um, you know, I told you that Ididn't want to be like, I didn't
(13:46):
want to be a social worker.
I thought I was going to workwith kids.
Well, guess what, today I do seesome kids, but I, uh, majority
of my population that I workwith are adults and I absolutely
love it.
And so I, you know, I'm a firmbeliever like, uh, God, where
you lead me, I will follow.
And that's right now, I'm on ajourney, um, as a social worker.
(14:09):
And so that's one thing rightnow.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
That's awesome.
That is so awesome.
You're right.
You know, sometimes you can makeplans and God would come right
in and say, you must just takeyour plans and just put them to
the side because that is notgoing to happen for you right
now.
So that is awesome.
Awesome story.
So you are working with childrenor adults, but I know that you
(14:33):
have a specific focus when itcomes to suicide prevention
practice.
So why the focus on suicideprevention?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
I actually started out my career in prevention
work.
I was actually was like directprevention, um, is where I
started out my career workingwith.
And then, um, suicideprevention.
I kind of started out.
Um, and again, like, I feel likea tactic attacking my fears.
Um, cause I could stillremember, like in my, in my
(15:05):
master's level program were inmental health class, it was
talking about suicide and I wasin, I told myself like, oh my
gosh, that's like, I wasterrified when it came to
suicide and you know, justdidn't want to touch it because
I guess I didn't, I felt like Iwasn't equipped to handle those
situations.
And so, um, you know, and we hadlike one class where we just
(15:29):
strictly talked about suicide,so it was like, okay.
Um, and you know, as apractitioner, they always tell
you, you always want to askthose questions, uh, checking to
see if they have any thoughtsand, you know, handed over the
Baton to somebody else that, youknow, that's that specialized in
that.
And so, um, it wasn't until Istarted working at the
psychiatric hospital, um, a lotof our patients that came
(15:52):
through there, they had suicidalideations, they had suicide
attempts.
So I really had to learn abouthow to treat this particular
population.
Uh, what are the best practiceswhen working with this
particular population?
Because I realized very soonthat no matter where I go, if I
want to stay in mental health, Ihave to learn how to work with
(16:13):
this particular population.
So that's what kind of, um, thatkind of really started my track
on suicide prevention or, andalso suicide intervention is
working at the psychiatrichospital.
Um, uh, you know, I've alwaysbeen a huge component of
prevention field because there'sso much money that you could
save and so many lives that youget per, uh, help, uh, just by
(16:37):
permitting things, you know, soI've always been a huge advocate
of prevention.
Um, and then just putting thosetwo things together as suicide
prevention, working at thepsychiatric hospital.
And then I was fortunate enoughto, um, get a job with the
central Texas VA.
And my job was suicideprevention.
I started out as a suicidesuicide prevention coordinator,
(16:58):
uh, case manager switched overto the coordinator position.
And that's all we did.
We identified veterans that areat high risk of suicides, um, to
intervene with that by workingwith, um, their providers,
working with the community.
And, um, just learning aboutthat kind of that's what led me
into the focus of suicide.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So one of the things that you had to personally
prepare yourself for and makingthis transition, because you
said you were kind of nervousabout it and I can already
imagine all that you had to doin order to prepare yourself
professionally.
But what about personally, whatdid you have to do in order to
be able to effectively functionas a professional in this area
(17:41):
of practice?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
That is a good question.
So, um, I think that, uh, firstI think it starts with
self-awareness awareness and oneof the things like, I know what
it's like to have those suicidalthoughts.
Like I know what it's like tohave, uh, someone send you a
text message and just shift andhow important your faith could
play a role of that personally.
(18:04):
I know what that's like.
And so looking at, um, for me,my personal experience with
suicide ideation and thosethoughts, and then looking at it
in the lens of helping someone,I think that, uh, self care is
so important.
Um, and so not only did I haveto realize our, like know how to
(18:25):
work with this particularpopulation, also being able to
set those boundaries, being ableto do some reflection for
myself, understanding what aremy boundaries, um, cause I don't
want to, you know, transfer myopinion, you know, my thoughts
and feelings and those types ofthings on the particular client
population that I'm seeing.
And so I think thatself-awareness, and then also
(18:48):
self care, you know, making surebecause if we're not we'll then
how can we be effective to otherpeople?
I feel like it's one of thosethings that's ongoing, but you
have to continue to check in andum, and then making sure that
your mental health is whole, soyou are able to help effectively
help everybody else because thisis a very tough topic and it can
(19:10):
take a lot of you mentally ifyou're not, if you're not sure.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
I know for me working in an area in the area of
corrections, I had the desire to, to work with that population.
And I didn't always understandwhat it meant to work with that
population until I actuallybegan working with that
population.
But I had a real key turningpoint that helped me to have a
(19:35):
really good understanding ofwhat it meant to work with that
population.
And it was my very first timehaving to do something inside of
a correctional setting bymyself.
And it was number one, it was ascary experience.
I almost feel like I was hazedin some kind of way because my
(19:58):
very first time I actually gotlocked into a correctional
setting due to an incident thathappened.
I actually got locked in forhours.
The facility got shut down.
So I got, you know, I got a realdose of what it was like to work
in a correctional setting thatday.
And that kind of helped me tobecome more aware, but it also
(20:21):
strengthened my desire for thatkind of work.
So do you have any turning pointfor you working or even con you
know, moving towards working inthis area of practice, do you
have a turning point thatamplified your desire to want to
do suicide prevention practice?
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I think it kind of goes back to what I said before
is for as like, like your calland like, I know without a doubt
mental health is this is where Isupposed to be.
And, you know, always looking atways that I could better myself,
better as a profession.
And a lot of times when you walkin, I feel like when you're
walking, according to yourCollin, you're just being
faithful with what you're doingat that moment.
(21:03):
And from that point, it couldlead to other things cause it
could, because I think so oftenwe get caught up with what is my
purpose?
Am I living in my purpose?
Am I, you know, and if we feelthat it's this big old thing,
that's gonna come out and tellus what it is, but sometimes
it's just being faithful of theposition that God puts you in.
And then from that, it leads youto other things.
(21:23):
And I feel that looking atsuicide prevention, you know, it
started out, it started out withme working in the psychiatric
hospital and from, and no matterwhere I go, always talk about
suicide prevention.
Like if you work in mentalhealth, you cannot, you cannot.
I mean, you're, if you're atherapist you have to address
that issue.
And so looking at it fromworking in a psychiatric
(21:45):
hospital, you know, with theopportunity that I was given
with him at the VA, and thenalso just looking at, you know,
my personal experiences, myfamily experiences, when it
comes to this, with thisparticular topic and it just, it
kinda just like ruined, likerealizing that this is a tough
topic.
A lot of people don't like totalk about it.
A lot of people have, there's somany myths that comes around
(22:07):
this topic for myself.
You know, I was terrified of,you know, working with this
particular population.
So I just felt like I wasspiteful for, with a little
small, you know, small thingarea and it just continued to
grow.
And I feel like I'm stilllearning.
Like I still have a ways to go,but I, I, but I can tell you
this, like, I'm not nervous.
(22:28):
I'm not anxious about it.
I feel like I am making adifference.
And also I realized, you know,it's such a huge need,
particularly in the blackcommunity when we're talking
about this, it's not, did itanswer your question?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I actually appreciated that.
But, but do you have a storythat was pivotal for you,
particularly in the beginning,transitioning into suicide
prevention practice?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
So I don't have a particular like this one story,
you know, then I just knew thatthat was it, you know, but I
think it's a combination of likethe different experiences and it
all seemed to have this sametheme.
A lot of people, when you'retalking about suicide, they
don't, they don't die becausethey want to kill themselves.
They die because they want thepain to stop and they don't know
(23:15):
any other way to get help.
And for two Ian, just lookingat, you know, a lot of the
things that I saw working withthis particular population is
there's an underlining issuethat's going on with them.
And it's not just one thing.
It's a combination of severalthings.
And I guess that's probably whyI can't come up with like this
one thing, because when we'retalking about suicide is so
(23:37):
complex, it's not just onething, you know, but it is
something that you see, um, likeseveral issues, um, several risk
factors that comes at play withthis.
And, and also another thing too,that I, that I felt like working
with this particular populationis seeing when you're working
with this particular group,seeing the change, like you come
(23:58):
from working with someone thatyou know, was had to pull their
car on the side of the road witha gun in their hand and
realizing that this is it.
I can't continue to live likethis.
And something happened, youknow, something happened that
they chose not to go along withit and they put that gun up, but
they called and got the help.
And then now you're working withthis person and they're telling
(24:20):
you their story, how low theyare.
And now you see how they'reprepared to go back to school.
You know, they're not havingthose thoughts anymore.
Sometimes they have thoseideations, but then they're able
to they're if they have thatself-awareness and they're able
to do things about it.
And I think being able to seethat change hand on for so many
people, I think that that that'sreally helpful that it confirms
(24:44):
that what I'm doing, I am makinga difference and I am saving
lives.
Um, and therapy works.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, that's quite gratifying and it makes it even
the more meaningful and valuablewhen you are doing something
that is saving lives, but thatis making a difference in
people's lives for the longhaul.
That's awesome.
That's amazing.
I'm now wanting to focus onsharing information for those
who may be interested in perhapstransitioning into doing suicide
(25:15):
prevention practice, or want toknow more about what it will
take to do suicide preventionpractice.
So can you talk a little bitabout some of the skills and
qualifications that's needed totransition into this area of
practice as related to
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Right.
And you know, one of the thingswhen I'm talking about suicide
prevention or working insuicide, I do believe that this
is, uh, I, I could see us havinga whole course on suicide
prevention because so often it'sjust lumped and to a chapter
are, you know, if, if you're, ifthis isn't something that you're
interested in, if you don'thighlight it, when you're doing
(25:55):
your papers, you know, uh, itcould be easily missed.
We always talk about, is soimportant for you to ask those
questions.
And you know, when you're doingyour assessment with any
bio-psycho-social assessment,that's one of the questions that
they are on that.
But it's just a point whereyou're just checking this box
and you're thinking, that's it.
You have to make sure one of thethings, one, a suggestion or
(26:17):
recommendation that I will giveyou colleagues or professionals
that, that has the, have thispassion is you're going to have
to put in your work yourself.
You're going to have to investin yourself.
Uh, like there are so manydifferent trainings that, and
it's free.
It's free trainings that youcould go through.
Like they have the Cannestraining, um, in different
(26:38):
states, they call it differentthings.
Um, the ACE training.
And so I think that you have toinvest in yourself and look for
opportunities to learn aboutthis, about this particular
subject, because I have, and I,you know, ingrained in my eyes
is, you know, isn't, but every,a lot of people that I talk to
too, they say the same thing.
You know, they, there's not a,you know, a whole course where
(27:01):
you're talking about suicideprevention, but when you start
getting in the field, yourealize how complex it is.
You know, it's not just, oh,this person is having suicidal
ideation, but you're looking at,okay, where's their risk level.
You know, what type of risklevel are there?
Is it high risk?
Is it moderate risk and lowrisk?
You know, it's just so manydifferent things that goes into
(27:21):
it.
But, um, unless you're likereally going out, seeking this
information, you really don'tknow it.
And so I will recommend thatperson who's ever interested in
going into this field is toreally invest in yourself and
look for opportunities to learnmore about this particular
topic.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's great advice.
That's great advice.
Are there any specific skills orqualifications that the person
would need?
Is there a certificate of sortthat would be necessary for
someone to perhaps get a jobworking in this area?
Or is there a specific skill,maybe a social work skill that
they would need in order to beeffective and work in this area?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yes.
And so right now they have acertified prevention specialist.
That's one certification thatyou could get a lot of times
with that particularcertification is very broad, is
looking at the prevention feelas a whole.
A lot of times, people that isworking with substance abuse,
especially that's doing thisprevention side of substance
abuse.
(28:24):
They go and get thiscertification, but the
certification is very broad.
It's not specifically gearedtowards suicide prevention
specialists.
I'm pretty.
And I need to look and see ifthere is a certification out
there for suicide prevention.
But I do know that there's a lotof trainings.
Um, that's out there, they havea national training that's out
there.
Each state, they have a, adifferent coalition that's out
(28:47):
there for you to get involvedwith.
If you're interested in this, Iknow working for the VA, they
have, so they have a suicide andthe national organization have
their on training, working forthe VA.
They have their nationaltraining for suicide prevention
that they do.
I will say, it's the same skillsets that we have as social
workers.
If you work in mental health, Iwill say another strong
(29:10):
component is you have to be ableto be uncomfortable if you like,
if you're afraid of speaking infront of people, this may not
necessarily be a good fieldbecause a lot of times when
we're talking about suicide,education is huge.
You know, like, like I statedbefore, there are so many myths
that's out there about suicide.
(29:31):
There are so many people thatdon't know how to get the help
that they need.
And so a lot of our work that wedo in is education trainings, um
, speaking to classes, going tocommunity events, going to
church events, um, you know,different things.
Speaking about this, getting theword out also, I will say to
someone that is experience thathave already gone through like,
(29:54):
you know, how to treat people.
So you've, you know, you carrieda caseload, you've done, um,
individual therapy because Ithink that that's essential.
You know, you need to know what,how, you know, what are the best
practices, what that looked likeworking with this.
So I wouldn't recommend someonestraight out of grad school, um,
you know, for this to be theirwork.
(30:15):
Is it possible, you know, if yougo to a school that specialized
in this and, you know, you haveother experience prior to, but,
um, I think it will be someonethat has more like more
experience, um, you know, out of, um, like at least two years or
more, um, from grad school goinginto the field because it is
(30:36):
very complex and you have toknow what treatment looks like.
Um, so I don't think as an introlevel position
Speaker 3 (30:43):
That whole thought about public speaking is
something that I would not havepaired with suicide prevention
practice, but it's so true nowthat I reflect back on what my
experiences have been in termsof seeing information, becoming
aware, uh, being educated, thatpublic speaking piece is huge,
but I never thought about that.
And so you just mentioned itright now.
(31:04):
That's excellent advice.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
So with that being said, I'mgoing to ask you this question
and I want to get your, yourthoughts or your opinion on it.
And you kind of answered it alittle bit, but the necessity of
having a week or a monthpromoting awareness about
suicide prevention, you know,how important is that?
(31:25):
How significant is that?
How necessary?
Speaker 4 (31:29):
I think it's very important and I think it's very
important on several entities.
Hey, it's important for thosepeople that have lost loved ones
because of their loved ones havecompleted suicide.
I know, and they do this allover, but, um, particular Waco,
Texas, they have, this is calledthe out, out of the darkness
walk.
If you hadn't been there, I willsuggest for you to go there, but
(31:52):
it's just, I think it's, um, andjust thinking about it kind of
seeing chills, Val, you know,down my spine, because just
looking at how many familiescome out there.
I remember one year I went thisone family that I spoke to, they
lost their daughter and she hadtwo kids.
And at the time was, she endedup killing herself.
Um, her, her son, he was a baby.
(32:13):
Well now he was a teenager andhe was out there with her shirt
on and just looking at, youknow, seeing it, seeing this
child's face that, you know, hehas to live his, his whole life
with his mom, no longer be inthere.
Um, and just, you know, it's agreat opportunity for them to
tell their story and they have,uh, they do like different, uh,
(32:34):
visuals for them.
And like they have like thesepaper bags with their name and
lights under me there.
And it's such a beautiful thingbecause at nighttime you could
see it.
And a lot of, and one time theyspelt hope, um, with those bags
and it was so beautiful to see,but also so sad, like these,
this amount of people havekilled themselves because they
(32:54):
felt like this was their onlyoption.
So I think having that the monthis great for those survivors.
Um, those, uh, family membersthat have lost loved ones is a
great opportunity for them totell their story to so their
loved one's name will continueto live.
Um, so I think it's good forthem also, I think is good for,
(33:16):
uh, practitioners as actuallydoing the work in the field.
It's a great time to shine, uh,awareness because a lot of
times, you know, people, youwouldn't really see suicide
prevention or people talkingabout suicide, unless you're
very passionate about it.
But during that month, peopleare looking, companies are
looking for people to come inand talk to their, their workers
(33:37):
and getting the word out on anational stage.
And so I think that that isgreat that way, because you're
able to reach more people.
And then also it's great forpractitioners because there's
always things going on.
So if you're like looking fortraining, where did I go?
Uh, September is a good monththat you'll be able to find a
(33:57):
lot of things that you probably,you know, it probably will be
very hard unless, you know,someone to find that information
and, you know, and it, it allgoes back to what we're talking
about suicide.
It is something that we canprevent or we able to prevent it
100%.
Absolutely.
I mean, absolutely not.
That's not realistic, but a lotof times these people that have
(34:20):
killed themselves, they havetold someone if this is
something that they're thinkingabout doing.
Um, and so if we could just getthat word out and letting them
know that, Hey, you're notalone, there are people out
there that can help you.
And there is hope.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's important.
Definitely.
Thank you so much.
I want to transition and go backto talking about the experiences
of doing this kind of work.
What are some of the challengesthat social work practitioners,
maybe you can talk about some ofthe challenges that you've had
in doing this kind of work, andthen what kind of advice would
(34:56):
you offer to address any ofthose challenges?
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I would think, um, I would say the, um, one of the
biggest challenges is, is veryhard work.
Um, and it can take a toll onyou mentally.
And I say that first is becauseI think as social worker we're
as social workers, we're alwaysgiven, we're always given, we're
always given, and it's soimportant if you're doing this
work to make sure you have sometype of self care, um, that
(35:22):
you're doing to plug bike intoyourself.
Because if you're always given,who's filling you back up or
what's filling you back up.
And so, um, I think it's veryimportant for anybody that's
working in this field, not justsocial workers.
I mean, you start looking at thenumber of psychiatrists are
adopters that have killedthemselves because, um, that,
(35:43):
that trauma, that vicarioustrauma is real, you know, want
to make sure that we're able toplug back into ourself because
if you're not careful, itstarted taking a toll on you.
And so I think that that's onechallenge.
Another challenge is with this,you have like, you cannot do
this work alone.
You have to be able to work wellwith other people.
(36:06):
Um, and it's also working withother disciplines, not just
social workers.
I mean, you're going to beworking with doctors and nurses
actress.
And so if you're not familiarwith how to navigate that
system, it can become achallenge.
Um, sometimes you could feellike you're not being heard, but
again, you're just taking thatone step kids, you doing what
(36:27):
you need to be doing and workingwith them.
And so I think it's veryimportant to know how to work in
an interdisciplinary team, um,to bring out, to bring about
positive change.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
That's good.
That's good.
I like the idea of understandinghow to navigate when you're
working, interdiscipline workingwith other disciplines.
Um, and in, in a collaborativefashion, you, you have to of
course uphold the social workperspective, but you also have
to respect the otherperspectives that the other
(37:03):
discipline professionals arecoming with.
And if you're not able to dothat, I can imagine that it will
be really difficult to beeffective in this area of
practice.
So thank you so much for sharingthat.
So in your work as apractitioner, you're a licensed
clinical social worker.
When you are working withindividuals who are struggling
(37:25):
in this regard, do you have acertain theoretical perspective
that you draw on or thisparticular technique or strategy
that you prefer when workingwith them?
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yes.
And so that's a great question.
It all goes back to, and that'swhy I say that is very important
for, for a person to be skilledin this particular work, because
part of that skillset is beingable to assess an idea and know
your client because each clientis different.
You know, I know there's beenstudies where DBT has been
(37:57):
highly effective working withsuicide, um, people that are
suicidal, but what if you have aperson is not that, I mean, it's
not working, it's not, they'renot getting that.
And so you have to be able tohave a variety of different
therapeutic approach.
I tend to start withsolution-focused brief therapy
initially, but again, being ableto know my client and see if
(38:19):
that's not working, if they arehaving have been experiencing a
lot of trauma, you know, um, soI start with solution-focused
brief therapy and also crisisintervention, developing a
crisis plan just to get themstabilize and then being able to
assess and see what's needed.
If they have been experienced ina lot of trauma, we will go to
(38:41):
EMDR treatment so we could kindof work through that.
And so I think it just dependson what's going on with that
particular client, what worksbest for them.
But, you know, you have, CBT hasbeen affective.
DBT is effective solutionfocused grief therapy, EMDR, or
just a few of the ones thatcould be used.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
I applaud you in the work thatyou do.
I do, and I celebrate thesuccesses that you've had in
working with individuals in thisarea, the field, it certainly
takes a special someone to beable to do this, to do it well
and to do it for the long haul.
(39:24):
And so I celebrate you.
I applaud you.
You are absolutely awesome as asocial worker.
And I think that those whom youare working with, and those
who've had the pleasure ofworking with you, I can just
imagine that they have been ableto get to the place that you've
been helping them to get to bythe investment that you have
(39:46):
made in their life.
So continue to do this work.
We need to concede, and we needmore of you out there doing this
work for sure, especially now,when so many of us are going
through so many differentchallenges and it's seems like
we are just spiral into our rockbottom and not seeing the way
(40:09):
out or the way through, and tobe able to have someone like
you, who is attentive and aware,but has the have the skills and
the experience to be able tohelp someone get over that is,
is certainly certainly valuable.
So I praise you.
I celebrate you.
I applaud you for all the workthat you do.
(40:30):
So now what I need you to do istalk to us about some, the
resources.
I know you mentioned some, andI'm not sure are your, are you
practicing online?
Are you doing a virtual?
Are your services virtual, orare they face-to-face?
How can someone contact you andmaybe inquire about this area of
the field, or perhaps be able to, uh, talk with you about
(40:54):
resources with regard to thisarea of practice?
How can someone get in contactwith you?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
I do have my own private practice.
So, and I am licensed in thestate of Texas as well as the
state of Tennessee.
And so I could see clients, both.
I could see clients virtuallyand Texas, but in Tennessee, I
am licensed and I see clientsvirtually and also face-to-face.
My cell number is 8 6 5 2 2 1 73 9 9.
(41:25):
And that is my work number.
So if someone is interested inindividual therapy, that's in
Texas or Tennessee, we will callme me a text message, or you
could email me at B Katina, K aT T I N a@yahoo.com.
I always like to give people thew the crisis line.
(41:46):
I think that the suicide crisisnumber is a great resource
because they can provideinformation for a person as
actually are actively suicidalfor their family members.
You're a clinician, and you'reworking in this field.
I need some more resources.
So I was just a one-stop shopfor, you know, really cover them
(42:07):
the basis with that.
And that number is 1 802 7 3 8 28 2 5 5.
And again, that number is 1 8027 3 8 2 5 5.
There's also this really coolapp that I always tell people
about.
It's called a virtual healthbox, working at the VA.
I know we utilize that a lot,but then, but it's also, anybody
(42:31):
could use it.
I have it downloaded on myphone.
I always tell my clients aboutit.
It's free.
So if you have apple or Android,you can download it.
It is call the virtual hope box.
It has a little red star withthe blue box.
So that's what it looks like.
And then also, if you're someonethat you're, you're not sure of,
(42:51):
how do you go about talking tosomeone that's suicidal, or you
feel like you need some moretraining, Columbia, suicide,
severity rating scale.
That's a great tool to use.
It is evidence-based.
But I like to say that becauseon their website, they have so
much information on suicideprevention that you can use.
(43:12):
And so if you could, if you justGoogle Columbia suicide severity
scale, it will take you to theirlink and it have so many great
resources on that website.
You can always look at your eachplace.
They have a local chapter.
Um, the it's a suicideprevention chapter that they do.
So usually they usually are theones that holds the out of the
(43:35):
darkness walk in September.
And so that's always a greatresource, but if you're looking,
how, where do I start?
Start with the crisis line.
That would be a great start.
That has so much information onthere.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Awesome.
Well, one last thing I wouldlove for you to do.
There's a listener out there whois contemplated, throwing in the
towel and no longer wanting tolive this life due to challenges
and circumstances that might beoverbearing and overpowering.
(44:12):
What would you say to thatindividual if they were
listening right now,
Speaker 4 (44:16):
I will tell that individual that, um, there is,
hope this out the air and forthem to call the crisis hotline
number, where they could talk tosomeone right now at this
moment.
And so I that's where I wassorry.
And, and, uh, also what, tell itperson again, there's hope
(44:37):
there's people that's willing tohelp you because your life, it
does matter.
And we
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Awesome.
If you're out there, listen toKatina Bryant, there's hope you
matter.
And there are resources outthere that you can draw on in
order to turn things around foryourself.
Don't give up.
So Katrina, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
It was my pleasure.
I've learned something from youas I always do whenever we get
(45:07):
together.
And we have conversation.
Thank you so much for share withmy listeners, this brief talk
about suicide prevention,because I know as you stated,
there is so much more to know,and there's so much more to do.
So thank you so much for takingthe time to share a little bit
with us, as well as to encourageus to think more about this
(45:29):
area, become more aware and thenalso to take action.
Are you going to come and joinme again next time?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Okay.
We'll have to talk when you'llbe able to have time to come
join me again.
I would love it.
Well until then you take care.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Bye bye.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
I so appreciate courageous, compassionate,
social workers, doing the workof helping and giving hope to
those in seemingly hopelesssituations.
If you are an aspiring socialworker uncertain about the area
of the field to choose, Iencourage you to consider
suicide prevention.
There is much work to be done,and I know that you will find
(46:14):
value and meaning in this workconsider reaching out to social
workers like Katina, who areactively practicing so that you
will learn more.
If you or someone you know, isthinking about suicide, call the
national suicide preventionlifeline.
The number is 1 802 7 3 8 2 5 5.
(46:38):
There are professionals ready toprovide you with free,
confidential support, 24 hours,seven days a week.
In the words of one named JessThorton is not about battling
your past, but fighting for yourfuture.
So please do not be afraid orashamed to ask for help know
that your life matters.
(46:59):
And many people care to see youlive it to the fullest.
Again, that number is 1 802 7 38 2 5 5.
Thinking about the socialworkers who were so influential
in my life so many years ago, ifthey were here and I were to ask
(47:24):
them, what would you say tosomeone who is struggling right
now?
And to be encouraged, they wouldsay more than just don't give
up.
They would say, I dare you notto give up to you.
Who may be overwhelmed by lifeand thinking about giving up.
I dare you not to give up.
I dare you not to give in to thepressure of ending.
(47:48):
Only look up to the hope ofovercoming and overcoming and
winning.
They're so much more to you thanyou may even know right now.
So keep going forward.
Choose to stand to live.
Be bold.
Be brave, dare to be different.
Dare to be courageous.
(48:09):
See, we only got one life tolive, so choose to live.
It sees the chance to turn thatfrown into a smile and refuse to
give up, refuse to give into thepressure to end only look up and
grab, hold the hope to overcomeand win.
Be encouraged.
My brother be encouraged.
(48:30):
My sister, I so appreciatehaving this talk on suicide
prevention and connecting withMrs.
Katina D Bryant.
If you are appreciated listeningto this episode, write a review
to share your thoughts, sharethis podcast episode with others
and subscribe wherever youlisten to podcasts to keep up
(48:51):
with this show.
Do you have a question you wantanswered in a future show?
Do you have topic ideas orfeedback to support creation of
future shows?
Would you like to be a guestconnect with me through email,
send messages to S S inspiredcast@gmail.com?
(49:11):
Well, until next time, Sundaylisteners live on purpose.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Thank you for listening to Sundays with
Chevelle subscribe, wherever youlisten to podcasts and be sure
to tune in next time for anothersocial work inspired episode by.
[inaudible]
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Sundays with Chevelle, uh, social work
inspired podcast with creatorand host Dr.
Shariece Chevelle.
This is a bi-monthly show whereeach episode aims to inspire
topics relevant to social workpractice, growing forward,
living on purpose and so muchmore.
(00:33):
Thank you for tuning in.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hello, Sunday listeners.
This is your host, Dr.
Shariece Chevelle.
Thank you so much for tuning inand welcome to episode five,
talking suicide prevention,ladies and gentlemen, a few days
ago, I had the pleasure ofsitting down with one of my
social work colleagues to talkabout the issue of suicide and
(01:06):
the work of suicide preventionhearing about her experiences
and her perspectives was notonly insightful, but also
valuable for me personally.
But before getting to thisinterview, I have a question.
Have you ever wondered whysuicide prevention is necessary?
I never wondered that really myown personal experience around
(01:30):
this issue during the earlieryears of my life made the
necessity of prevention quiteclear to me.
However, I often wonder if otherpeople knew why suicide
prevention was necessary.
Thinking back to my earlierdays, the issue of suicide was
considered not much of an issueat all.
Really.
It was considered more liketaboo contrary to the very
(01:53):
nature of the people in mycommunity.
And if there was an issue or ifthere was an occurrence, there
was no conversation about it.
And when there was anoccurrence, there was question
as to whether that person wasquote unquote part of us,
because quote unquote, we don'tdo that.
(02:15):
The thinking and attitudes ofyesteryear have long since been
debunked.
And we know that there is norespect of person when it comes
to suicide, meaning it is not anissue for just any one
community.
It's not an issue for anyoneethnicity or age or gender, et
(02:35):
cetera.
The experience of mental,emotional, and spiritual
challenges is an issue of humancon.
No matter your variety oflikeness, just by virtue of you
being a human being, it's anissue.
We are all subject to thesechallenges and as well, subject
to being impacted by those inour community, experiencing
(02:58):
these challenges just by virtueof being human.
For that reason alone suicideprevention is necessary.
The history of social effortstowards suicide prevention in
the United States is understoodto have as beginning in the
1950s.
And this is according to areport published by the United
States surgeon general and thenational action Alliance for
(03:21):
suicide prevention.
The first suicide preventioncenter was established in Los
Angeles, California in 1958 in1983, the centers for disease
control and prevention put aspotlight on youth suicide with
the creation of a violenceprevention unit.
And this prompted the UnitedStates department of health and
(03:43):
human services to establish atask force on youth suicide,
which published preventionrecommendations in 1989.
The national organization forpeople of color against suicide
was established in 1998.
The national suicide preventionlifeline was established in 2001
by the substance abuse andmental health services
(04:04):
administration also known asSAMHSA.
This was followed by two keyfederal policy initiatives, the
Garrett Lee Smith Memorial actin 2004 and the Joshua on big
veterans suicide prevention actin 2007.
The national lines of suicideprevention was established in
2010.
(04:25):
And the national strategy forsuicide prevention was revised
in 2012.
There were foundations such aslife keeper and the Jason
foundation that were founded aswell as other notable
initiatives.
The point that I'm making isthat the degree of effort made
and is being made today toprevent suicide deaths supports
(04:49):
this notion that suicideprevention is necessary.
Now, this is a small snapshotregarding the efforts taken to
tackle this issue of suicide inthe United States, since the
1950s, so much more has beendone and so much more is being
done today.
But moving farther to evidence,the available reporting about
(05:11):
suicide is important and it'simportant because it helps us to
better understand the magnitudeof this problem.
So I did a brief search for somestatistical data, and here is
what I found the Americanfoundation for suicide
prevention, highlighted somestatistical results from the
2019 fatal injury report thatwas published by the CDC.
(05:33):
They noted that in 2019,approximately one point 38
million suicide attemptsoccurred.
And there were 47,511 deaths bysuicide.
According to a report publishedby the United States surgeon
general and the national actionAlliance for suicide prevention.
The rate of suicide deaths amongmen increases with age while the
(05:57):
rate of suicide deaths amongwomen decreases with age, the
2019 fatal injury report alsostated that men died by suicide
three and a half times moreoften as women.
And according to the nationalAlliance on mental illness, 78%
of all people who die by suicideare male.
(06:18):
Suicide attempts are elevatedamong adolescents and female
adolescents attempted suicide.
Two times more often as maleadolescents, and one other
statistic that I want to know ofall suicide deaths in 2019 50%
involved use of a firearm.
This is clear evidence thatsuicide prevention is necessary.
(06:42):
Suicide prevention is an area offocus in the social work
profession.
And as you know, I am a socialworker and social work practice
is all about enhancing humanwellbeing, which means our
attention is on enhancing thelived experience of people
toward the betterment ofsociety.
When it comes to suicideprevention, there are a number
of roles that social workersassume, and they assume these
(07:05):
roles in order to prevent injuryand death by persons
experiencing a suicidal crisis,doing this work, the work of
suicide prevention, it can bequite complex.
And at the very core of thiswork is the need to be
compassionate, caring, alert, aswell as nonjudgmental social
(07:26):
work practitioners are expectedto exemplify these
characteristics in theirprofessional work.
It's a part of our code ofethics during my time of need to
compassionate, caring, alert,and non-judgemental social
workers became my lifeline.
And I'm proud to be a socialworker today because of them
because of the influence andimpact that they've made on my
(07:48):
life so many years ago, in myopinion, social workers are
uniquely qualified to advancesuicide prevention practice to
reduce attempts as well asoccurrences.
In fact, social workers were atthe forefront of efforts to
implement the national strategyMSW Dr.
Jerry Reed at the time, he wasthe vice president and director
(08:10):
of the suicide preventionresource center, but he served
as co-leader of the nationalstrategy for suicide prevention,
task force, and several MSWpractitioners served as members
of the task force.
It was because of the practiceand advocacy of clinicians,
social workers included that wehave the wealth of resources at
the community level to addressthe needs of individuals,
(08:33):
particularly those experiencingsuicidal crisis to prevent
injury and death.
In my opinion, social workersare vital in this work because
social workers play such aninstrumental role in preventing
suicide attempts, as well assuicide deaths.
I want us to talk with a socialworker actively doing this work
in honor of national suicideprevention month.
(08:54):
I invited a licensed social workpractitioner to share her
experiences with suicideprevention.
For those of you who areaspiring social workers, seeking
an area of the field topractice, it might be beneficial
to hear this social worker'sperspective as it relates to
suicide prevention practice.
Otherwise hearing about thisword from a practitioner, in my
(09:15):
opinion, emphasizes howimportant it is to help save a
person in crisis.
My guest, Mrs.
Katina D Bryant is a suicideprevention practitioner.
She is a licensed clinicalsocial worker committed to
helping people flourish withintheir environment, through
mental health wellness.
She has over 16 years ofexperience and practice with
(09:36):
youth, adults and families thatare in crisis experience in
depression, anxiety,relationship problems, trauma,
or other complex psychiatricconcerns.
And currently Katina manages aprivate practice where she
utilizes training and eyemovement, desensitization and
reprocessing solution-focusedbrief therapy, motivational
(09:58):
interviewing moral recognitiontherapy and other evidence-based
methods.
Additionally, she has apart-time faculty member for the
MSW program at Bayloruniversity's Garland school of
social work, and she teachesadvanced clinical practice in
health settings.
I'm so glad that I had theopportunity to sit down and talk
to Katina about her experiencesas well as her perspectives.
(10:19):
Now, our conversation waspreviously recorded and it
begins with Katina sharing, howshe got started as a social
worker.
After hearing that response, sheshares her experiences in work
as a suicide preventionpractitioner, stay tuned to hear
about container Brian'sexperience.
And I will meet you at theconclusion of this conversation.
(10:39):
Enjoy the interview.
Hey, Katrina.
How are you?
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much for coming.
I know you have a really busyschedule and this topic of
suicide prevention.
I automatically thought aboutyou because I know that this is
(11:01):
your area of expertise, and Iwant it so much for you coming
to share some of your knowledge,your experience, as well as some
information with regards toresources with our audience, so
that they can not only becomemore aware of, but also move to
action, because this is a topicthat requires some action right
(11:22):
now.
So thank you so much for takingout the time in your day to come
and join me so good to have you,but before we actually get going
on talking about the topic ofsuicide prevention, I asked this
of all of my guests, everyoneanswers this question.
And the question that I want toask you is why social work, what
(11:44):
led you to want to become asocial worker?
Well, that is a great question.
And I'll be honest thatsometimes I feel like I'm still
figuring it out.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Um, I know, um, I know without a doubt, without
any question, mental fault is myCollin.
Um, being able to work withfamilies, communities, um, in
the mental health sphere, Ibelieve.
And I know without a doubt thatthis is where I supposed to be.
Um, as far as social work goes,I started out, I wanted to be a
(12:14):
school counselor because Iwanted to make a difference and
I got my bachelor's inpsychology.
I was actually looking up, um,programs to get my master's in
psychology.
Um, in fact would be a schoolcounselor.
Um, and after doing someresearch, um, they, I had to
teach for, for two years to be aschool counselor.
And I didn't want to be ateacher.
Like I knew I didn't want to dothat.
(12:37):
Um, and, um, and so aftertalking to some people, visiting
the different schools, talkingto counselors, I realized what I
truly wants to be was a schoolsocial worker.
And so that's how I ended up insocial work because I was, I was
one of those people that thoughtsocial workers were the people
that came in, take kids awayfrom their home, you know?
(12:58):
Um, and so I, yes, that wholestereotype, that was me when it
comes to social workers, becauseit just didn't know.
And, and at that time I thoughtlike, no, I don't want to do
that.
But when I realized socialworkers are the, when you're
talking about working in themental health field, you know,
we are the majority, uh,professionals in this field.
And so, um, I became a, Idecided to get my master's in
(13:22):
social worker goal was to becomea licensed clinical social
worker.
So I do private practice, but Ireally wants to work with
students.
And, um, and I think my journeyis a great testimony that we
could have all these plans ofhow we want our career be, uh,
to be, but sometimes God has adifferent plan than that.
Um, you know, I told you that Ididn't want to be like, I didn't
(13:46):
want to be a social worker.
I thought I was going to workwith kids.
Well, guess what, today I do seesome kids, but I, uh, majority
of my population that I workwith are adults and I absolutely
love it.
And so I, you know, I'm a firmbeliever like, uh, God, where
you lead me, I will follow.
And that's right now, I'm on ajourney, um, as a social worker.
(14:09):
And so that's one thing rightnow.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
That's awesome.
That is so awesome.
You're right.
You know, sometimes you can makeplans and God would come right
in and say, you must just takeyour plans and just put them to
the side because that is notgoing to happen for you right
now.
So that is awesome.
Awesome story.
So you are working with childrenor adults, but I know that you
(14:33):
have a specific focus when itcomes to suicide prevention
practice.
So why the focus on suicideprevention?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
I actually started out my career in prevention
work.
I was actually was like directprevention, um, is where I
started out my career workingwith.
And then, um, suicideprevention.
I kind of started out.
Um, and again, like, I feel likea tactic attacking my fears.
Um, cause I could stillremember, like in my, in my
(15:05):
master's level program were inmental health class, it was
talking about suicide and I wasin, I told myself like, oh my
gosh, that's like, I wasterrified when it came to
suicide and you know, justdidn't want to touch it because
I guess I didn't, I felt like Iwasn't equipped to handle those
situations.
And so, um, you know, and we hadlike one class where we just
(15:29):
strictly talked about suicide,so it was like, okay.
Um, and you know, as apractitioner, they always tell
you, you always want to askthose questions, uh, checking to
see if they have any thoughtsand, you know, handed over the
Baton to somebody else that, youknow, that's that specialized in
that.
And so, um, it wasn't until Istarted working at the
psychiatric hospital, um, a lotof our patients that came
(15:52):
through there, they had suicidalideations, they had suicide
attempts.
So I really had to learn abouthow to treat this particular
population.
Uh, what are the best practiceswhen working with this
particular population?
Because I realized very soonthat no matter where I go, if I
want to stay in mental health, Ihave to learn how to work with
(16:13):
this particular population.
So that's what kind of, um, thatkind of really started my track
on suicide prevention or, andalso suicide intervention is
working at the psychiatrichospital.
Um, uh, you know, I've alwaysbeen a huge component of
prevention field because there'sso much money that you could
save and so many lives that youget per, uh, help, uh, just by
(16:37):
permitting things, you know, soI've always been a huge advocate
of prevention.
Um, and then just putting thosetwo things together as suicide
prevention, working at thepsychiatric hospital.
And then I was fortunate enoughto, um, get a job with the
central Texas VA.
And my job was suicideprevention.
I started out as a suicidesuicide prevention coordinator,
(16:58):
uh, case manager switched overto the coordinator position.
And that's all we did.
We identified veterans that areat high risk of suicides, um, to
intervene with that by workingwith, um, their providers,
working with the community.
And, um, just learning aboutthat kind of that's what led me
into the focus of suicide.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So one of the things that you had to personally
prepare yourself for and makingthis transition, because you
said you were kind of nervousabout it and I can already
imagine all that you had to doin order to prepare yourself
professionally.
But what about personally, whatdid you have to do in order to
be able to effectively functionas a professional in this area
(17:41):
of practice?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
That is a good question.
So, um, I think that, uh, firstI think it starts with
self-awareness awareness and oneof the things like, I know what
it's like to have those suicidalthoughts.
Like I know what it's like tohave, uh, someone send you a
text message and just shift andhow important your faith could
play a role of that personally.
(18:04):
I know what that's like.
And so looking at, um, for me,my personal experience with
suicide ideation and thosethoughts, and then looking at it
in the lens of helping someone,I think that, uh, self care is
so important.
Um, and so not only did I haveto realize our, like know how to
(18:25):
work with this particularpopulation, also being able to
set those boundaries, being ableto do some reflection for
myself, understanding what aremy boundaries, um, cause I don't
want to, you know, transfer myopinion, you know, my thoughts
and feelings and those types ofthings on the particular client
population that I'm seeing.
And so I think thatself-awareness, and then also
(18:48):
self care, you know, making surebecause if we're not we'll then
how can we be effective to otherpeople?
I feel like it's one of thosethings that's ongoing, but you
have to continue to check in andum, and then making sure that
your mental health is whole, soyou are able to help effectively
help everybody else because thisis a very tough topic and it can
(19:10):
take a lot of you mentally ifyou're not, if you're not sure.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
I know for me working in an area in the area of
corrections, I had the desire to, to work with that population.
And I didn't always understandwhat it meant to work with that
population until I actuallybegan working with that
population.
But I had a real key turningpoint that helped me to have a
(19:35):
really good understanding ofwhat it meant to work with that
population.
And it was my very first timehaving to do something inside of
a correctional setting bymyself.
And it was number one, it was ascary experience.
I almost feel like I was hazedin some kind of way because my
(19:58):
very first time I actually gotlocked into a correctional
setting due to an incident thathappened.
I actually got locked in forhours.
The facility got shut down.
So I got, you know, I got a realdose of what it was like to work
in a correctional setting thatday.
And that kind of helped me tobecome more aware, but it also
(20:21):
strengthened my desire for thatkind of work.
So do you have any turning pointfor you working or even con you
know, moving towards working inthis area of practice, do you
have a turning point thatamplified your desire to want to
do suicide prevention practice?
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I think it kind of goes back to what I said before
is for as like, like your calland like, I know without a doubt
mental health is this is where Isupposed to be.
And, you know, always looking atways that I could better myself,
better as a profession.
And a lot of times when you walkin, I feel like when you're
walking, according to yourCollin, you're just being
faithful with what you're doingat that moment.
(21:03):
And from that point, it couldlead to other things cause it
could, because I think so oftenwe get caught up with what is my
purpose?
Am I living in my purpose?
Am I, you know, and if we feelthat it's this big old thing,
that's gonna come out and tellus what it is, but sometimes
it's just being faithful of theposition that God puts you in.
And then from that, it leads youto other things.
(21:23):
And I feel that looking atsuicide prevention, you know, it
started out, it started out withme working in the psychiatric
hospital and from, and no matterwhere I go, always talk about
suicide prevention.
Like if you work in mentalhealth, you cannot, you cannot.
I mean, you're, if you're atherapist you have to address
that issue.
And so looking at it fromworking in a psychiatric
(21:45):
hospital, you know, with theopportunity that I was given
with him at the VA, and thenalso just looking at, you know,
my personal experiences, myfamily experiences, when it
comes to this, with thisparticular topic and it just, it
kinda just like ruined, likerealizing that this is a tough
topic.
A lot of people don't like totalk about it.
A lot of people have, there's somany myths that comes around
(22:07):
this topic for myself.
You know, I was terrified of,you know, working with this
particular population.
So I just felt like I wasspiteful for, with a little
small, you know, small thingarea and it just continued to
grow.
And I feel like I'm stilllearning.
Like I still have a ways to go,but I, I, but I can tell you
this, like, I'm not nervous.
(22:28):
I'm not anxious about it.
I feel like I am making adifference.
And also I realized, you know,it's such a huge need,
particularly in the blackcommunity when we're talking
about this, it's not, did itanswer your question?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I actually appreciated that.
But, but do you have a storythat was pivotal for you,
particularly in the beginning,transitioning into suicide
prevention practice?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
So I don't have a particular like this one story,
you know, then I just knew thatthat was it, you know, but I
think it's a combination of likethe different experiences and it
all seemed to have this sametheme.
A lot of people, when you'retalking about suicide, they
don't, they don't die becausethey want to kill themselves.
They die because they want thepain to stop and they don't know
(23:15):
any other way to get help.
And for two Ian, just lookingat, you know, a lot of the
things that I saw working withthis particular population is
there's an underlining issuethat's going on with them.
And it's not just one thing.
It's a combination of severalthings.
And I guess that's probably whyI can't come up with like this
one thing, because when we'retalking about suicide is so
(23:37):
complex, it's not just onething, you know, but it is
something that you see, um, likeseveral issues, um, several risk
factors that comes at play withthis.
And, and also another thing too,that I, that I felt like working
with this particular populationis seeing when you're working
with this particular group,seeing the change, like you come
(23:58):
from working with someone thatyou know, was had to pull their
car on the side of the road witha gun in their hand and
realizing that this is it.
I can't continue to live likethis.
And something happened, youknow, something happened that
they chose not to go along withit and they put that gun up, but
they called and got the help.
And then now you're working withthis person and they're telling
(24:20):
you their story, how low theyare.
And now you see how they'reprepared to go back to school.
You know, they're not havingthose thoughts anymore.
Sometimes they have thoseideations, but then they're able
to they're if they have thatself-awareness and they're able
to do things about it.
And I think being able to seethat change hand on for so many
people, I think that that that'sreally helpful that it confirms
(24:44):
that what I'm doing, I am makinga difference and I am saving
lives.
Um, and therapy works.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, that's quite gratifying and it makes it even
the more meaningful and valuablewhen you are doing something
that is saving lives, but thatis making a difference in
people's lives for the longhaul.
That's awesome.
That's amazing.
I'm now wanting to focus onsharing information for those
who may be interested in perhapstransitioning into doing suicide
(25:15):
prevention practice, or want toknow more about what it will
take to do suicide preventionpractice.
So can you talk a little bitabout some of the skills and
qualifications that's needed totransition into this area of
practice as related to
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Right.
And you know, one of the thingswhen I'm talking about suicide
prevention or working insuicide, I do believe that this
is, uh, I, I could see us havinga whole course on suicide
prevention because so often it'sjust lumped and to a chapter
are, you know, if, if you're, ifthis isn't something that you're
interested in, if you don'thighlight it, when you're doing
(25:55):
your papers, you know, uh, itcould be easily missed.
We always talk about, is soimportant for you to ask those
questions.
And you know, when you're doingyour assessment with any
bio-psycho-social assessment,that's one of the questions that
they are on that.
But it's just a point whereyou're just checking this box
and you're thinking, that's it.
You have to make sure one of thethings, one, a suggestion or
(26:17):
recommendation that I will giveyou colleagues or professionals
that, that has the, have thispassion is you're going to have
to put in your work yourself.
You're going to have to investin yourself.
Uh, like there are so manydifferent trainings that, and
it's free.
It's free trainings that youcould go through.
Like they have the Cannestraining, um, in different
(26:38):
states, they call it differentthings.
Um, the ACE training.
And so I think that you have toinvest in yourself and look for
opportunities to learn aboutthis, about this particular
subject, because I have, and I,you know, ingrained in my eyes
is, you know, isn't, but every,a lot of people that I talk to
too, they say the same thing.
You know, they, there's not a,you know, a whole course where
(27:01):
you're talking about suicideprevention, but when you start
getting in the field, yourealize how complex it is.
You know, it's not just, oh,this person is having suicidal
ideation, but you're looking at,okay, where's their risk level.
You know, what type of risklevel are there?
Is it high risk?
Is it moderate risk and lowrisk?
You know, it's just so manydifferent things that goes into
(27:21):
it.
But, um, unless you're likereally going out, seeking this
information, you really don'tknow it.
And so I will recommend thatperson who's ever interested in
going into this field is toreally invest in yourself and
look for opportunities to learnmore about this particular
topic.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's great advice.
That's great advice.
Are there any specific skills orqualifications that the person
would need?
Is there a certificate of sortthat would be necessary for
someone to perhaps get a jobworking in this area?
Or is there a specific skill,maybe a social work skill that
they would need in order to beeffective and work in this area?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yes.
And so right now they have acertified prevention specialist.
That's one certification thatyou could get a lot of times
with that particularcertification is very broad, is
looking at the prevention feelas a whole.
A lot of times, people that isworking with substance abuse,
especially that's doing thisprevention side of substance
abuse.
(28:24):
They go and get thiscertification, but the
certification is very broad.
It's not specifically gearedtowards suicide prevention
specialists.
I'm pretty.
And I need to look and see ifthere is a certification out
there for suicide prevention.
But I do know that there's a lotof trainings.
Um, that's out there, they havea national training that's out
there.
Each state, they have a, adifferent coalition that's out
(28:47):
there for you to get involvedwith.
If you're interested in this, Iknow working for the VA, they
have, so they have a suicide andthe national organization have
their on training, working forthe VA.
They have their nationaltraining for suicide prevention
that they do.
I will say, it's the same skillsets that we have as social
workers.
If you work in mental health, Iwill say another strong
(29:10):
component is you have to be ableto be uncomfortable if you like,
if you're afraid of speaking infront of people, this may not
necessarily be a good fieldbecause a lot of times when
we're talking about suicide,education is huge.
You know, like, like I statedbefore, there are so many myths
that's out there about suicide.
(29:31):
There are so many people thatdon't know how to get the help
that they need.
And so a lot of our work that wedo in is education trainings, um
, speaking to classes, going tocommunity events, going to
church events, um, you know,different things.
Speaking about this, getting theword out also, I will say to
someone that is experience thathave already gone through like,
(29:54):
you know, how to treat people.
So you've, you know, you carrieda caseload, you've done, um,
individual therapy because Ithink that that's essential.
You know, you need to know what,how, you know, what are the best
practices, what that looked likeworking with this.
So I wouldn't recommend someonestraight out of grad school, um,
you know, for this to be theirwork.
(30:15):
Is it possible, you know, if yougo to a school that specialized
in this and, you know, you haveother experience prior to, but,
um, I think it will be someonethat has more like more
experience, um, you know, out of, um, like at least two years or
more, um, from grad school goinginto the field because it is
(30:36):
very complex and you have toknow what treatment looks like.
Um, so I don't think as an introlevel position
Speaker 3 (30:43):
That whole thought about public speaking is
something that I would not havepaired with suicide prevention
practice, but it's so true nowthat I reflect back on what my
experiences have been in termsof seeing information, becoming
aware, uh, being educated, thatpublic speaking piece is huge,
but I never thought about that.
And so you just mentioned itright now.
(31:04):
That's excellent advice.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
So with that being said, I'mgoing to ask you this question
and I want to get your, yourthoughts or your opinion on it.
And you kind of answered it alittle bit, but the necessity of
having a week or a monthpromoting awareness about
suicide prevention, you know,how important is that?
(31:25):
How significant is that?
How necessary?
Speaker 4 (31:29):
I think it's very important and I think it's very
important on several entities.
Hey, it's important for thosepeople that have lost loved ones
because of their loved ones havecompleted suicide.
I know, and they do this allover, but, um, particular Waco,
Texas, they have, this is calledthe out, out of the darkness
walk.
If you hadn't been there, I willsuggest for you to go there, but
(31:52):
it's just, I think it's, um, andjust thinking about it kind of
seeing chills, Val, you know,down my spine, because just
looking at how many familiescome out there.
I remember one year I went thisone family that I spoke to, they
lost their daughter and she hadtwo kids.
And at the time was, she endedup killing herself.
Um, her, her son, he was a baby.
(32:13):
Well now he was a teenager andhe was out there with her shirt
on and just looking at, youknow, seeing it, seeing this
child's face that, you know, hehas to live his, his whole life
with his mom, no longer be inthere.
Um, and just, you know, it's agreat opportunity for them to
tell their story and they have,uh, they do like different, uh,
(32:34):
visuals for them.
And like they have like thesepaper bags with their name and
lights under me there.
And it's such a beautiful thingbecause at nighttime you could
see it.
And a lot of, and one time theyspelt hope, um, with those bags
and it was so beautiful to see,but also so sad, like these,
this amount of people havekilled themselves because they
(32:54):
felt like this was their onlyoption.
So I think having that the monthis great for those survivors.
Um, those, uh, family membersthat have lost loved ones is a
great opportunity for them totell their story to so their
loved one's name will continueto live.
Um, so I think it's good forthem also, I think is good for,
(33:16):
uh, practitioners as actuallydoing the work in the field.
It's a great time to shine, uh,awareness because a lot of
times, you know, people, youwouldn't really see suicide
prevention or people talkingabout suicide, unless you're
very passionate about it.
But during that month, peopleare looking, companies are
looking for people to come inand talk to their, their workers
(33:37):
and getting the word out on anational stage.
And so I think that that isgreat that way, because you're
able to reach more people.
And then also it's great forpractitioners because there's
always things going on.
So if you're like looking fortraining, where did I go?
Uh, September is a good monththat you'll be able to find a
(33:57):
lot of things that you probably,you know, it probably will be
very hard unless, you know,someone to find that information
and, you know, and it, it allgoes back to what we're talking
about suicide.
It is something that we canprevent or we able to prevent it
100%.
Absolutely.
I mean, absolutely not.
That's not realistic, but a lotof times these people that have
(34:20):
killed themselves, they havetold someone if this is
something that they're thinkingabout doing.
Um, and so if we could just getthat word out and letting them
know that, Hey, you're notalone, there are people out
there that can help you.
And there is hope.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's important.
Definitely.
Thank you so much.
I want to transition and go backto talking about the experiences
of doing this kind of work.
What are some of the challengesthat social work practitioners,
maybe you can talk about some ofthe challenges that you've had
in doing this kind of work, andthen what kind of advice would
(34:56):
you offer to address any ofthose challenges?
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I would think, um, I would say the, um, one of the
biggest challenges is, is veryhard work.
Um, and it can take a toll onyou mentally.
And I say that first is becauseI think as social worker we're
as social workers, we're alwaysgiven, we're always given, we're
always given, and it's soimportant if you're doing this
work to make sure you have sometype of self care, um, that
(35:22):
you're doing to plug bike intoyourself.
Because if you're always given,who's filling you back up or
what's filling you back up.
And so, um, I think it's veryimportant for anybody that's
working in this field, not justsocial workers.
I mean, you start looking at thenumber of psychiatrists are
adopters that have killedthemselves because, um, that,
(35:43):
that trauma, that vicarioustrauma is real, you know, want
to make sure that we're able toplug back into ourself because
if you're not careful, itstarted taking a toll on you.
And so I think that that's onechallenge.
Another challenge is with this,you have like, you cannot do
this work alone.
You have to be able to work wellwith other people.
(36:06):
Um, and it's also working withother disciplines, not just
social workers.
I mean, you're going to beworking with doctors and nurses
actress.
And so if you're not familiarwith how to navigate that
system, it can become achallenge.
Um, sometimes you could feellike you're not being heard, but
again, you're just taking thatone step kids, you doing what
(36:27):
you need to be doing and workingwith them.
And so I think it's veryimportant to know how to work in
an interdisciplinary team, um,to bring out, to bring about
positive change.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
That's good.
That's good.
I like the idea of understandinghow to navigate when you're
working, interdiscipline workingwith other disciplines.
Um, and in, in a collaborativefashion, you, you have to of
course uphold the social workperspective, but you also have
to respect the otherperspectives that the other
(37:03):
discipline professionals arecoming with.
And if you're not able to dothat, I can imagine that it will
be really difficult to beeffective in this area of
practice.
So thank you so much for sharingthat.
So in your work as apractitioner, you're a licensed
clinical social worker.
When you are working withindividuals who are struggling
(37:25):
in this regard, do you have acertain theoretical perspective
that you draw on or thisparticular technique or strategy
that you prefer when workingwith them?
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yes.
And so that's a great question.
It all goes back to, and that'swhy I say that is very important
for, for a person to be skilledin this particular work, because
part of that skillset is beingable to assess an idea and know
your client because each clientis different.
You know, I know there's beenstudies where DBT has been
(37:57):
highly effective working withsuicide, um, people that are
suicidal, but what if you have aperson is not that, I mean, it's
not working, it's not, they'renot getting that.
And so you have to be able tohave a variety of different
therapeutic approach.
I tend to start withsolution-focused brief therapy
initially, but again, being ableto know my client and see if
(38:19):
that's not working, if they arehaving have been experiencing a
lot of trauma, you know, um, soI start with solution-focused
brief therapy and also crisisintervention, developing a
crisis plan just to get themstabilize and then being able to
assess and see what's needed.
If they have been experienced ina lot of trauma, we will go to
(38:41):
EMDR treatment so we could kindof work through that.
And so I think it just dependson what's going on with that
particular client, what worksbest for them.
But, you know, you have, CBT hasbeen affective.
DBT is effective solutionfocused grief therapy, EMDR, or
just a few of the ones thatcould be used.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
I applaud you in the work thatyou do.
I do, and I celebrate thesuccesses that you've had in
working with individuals in thisarea, the field, it certainly
takes a special someone to beable to do this, to do it well
and to do it for the long haul.
(39:24):
And so I celebrate you.
I applaud you.
You are absolutely awesome as asocial worker.
And I think that those whom youare working with, and those
who've had the pleasure ofworking with you, I can just
imagine that they have been ableto get to the place that you've
been helping them to get to bythe investment that you have
(39:46):
made in their life.
So continue to do this work.
We need to concede, and we needmore of you out there doing this
work for sure, especially now,when so many of us are going
through so many differentchallenges and it's seems like
we are just spiral into our rockbottom and not seeing the way
(40:09):
out or the way through, and tobe able to have someone like
you, who is attentive and aware,but has the have the skills and
the experience to be able tohelp someone get over that is,
is certainly certainly valuable.
So I praise you.
I celebrate you.
I applaud you for all the workthat you do.
(40:30):
So now what I need you to do istalk to us about some, the
resources.
I know you mentioned some, andI'm not sure are your, are you
practicing online?
Are you doing a virtual?
Are your services virtual, orare they face-to-face?
How can someone contact you andmaybe inquire about this area of
the field, or perhaps be able to, uh, talk with you about
(40:54):
resources with regard to thisarea of practice?
How can someone get in contactwith you?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
I do have my own private practice.
So, and I am licensed in thestate of Texas as well as the
state of Tennessee.
And so I could see clients, both.
I could see clients virtuallyand Texas, but in Tennessee, I
am licensed and I see clientsvirtually and also face-to-face.
My cell number is 8 6 5 2 2 1 73 9 9.
(41:25):
And that is my work number.
So if someone is interested inindividual therapy, that's in
Texas or Tennessee, we will callme me a text message, or you
could email me at B Katina, K aT T I N a@yahoo.com.
I always like to give people thew the crisis line.
(41:46):
I think that the suicide crisisnumber is a great resource
because they can provideinformation for a person as
actually are actively suicidalfor their family members.
You're a clinician, and you'reworking in this field.
I need some more resources.
So I was just a one-stop shopfor, you know, really cover them
(42:07):
the basis with that.
And that number is 1 802 7 3 8 28 2 5 5.
And again, that number is 1 8027 3 8 2 5 5.
There's also this really coolapp that I always tell people
about.
It's called a virtual healthbox, working at the VA.
I know we utilize that a lot,but then, but it's also, anybody
(42:31):
could use it.
I have it downloaded on myphone.
I always tell my clients aboutit.
It's free.
So if you have apple or Android,you can download it.
It is call the virtual hope box.
It has a little red star withthe blue box.
So that's what it looks like.
And then also, if you're someonethat you're, you're not sure of,
(42:51):
how do you go about talking tosomeone that's suicidal, or you
feel like you need some moretraining, Columbia, suicide,
severity rating scale.
That's a great tool to use.
It is evidence-based.
But I like to say that becauseon their website, they have so
much information on suicideprevention that you can use.
(43:12):
And so if you could, if you justGoogle Columbia suicide severity
scale, it will take you to theirlink and it have so many great
resources on that website.
You can always look at your eachplace.
They have a local chapter.
Um, the it's a suicideprevention chapter that they do.
So usually they usually are theones that holds the out of the
(43:35):
darkness walk in September.
And so that's always a greatresource, but if you're looking,
how, where do I start?
Start with the crisis line.
That would be a great start.
That has so much information onthere.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Awesome.
Well, one last thing I wouldlove for you to do.
There's a listener out there whois contemplated, throwing in the
towel and no longer wanting tolive this life due to challenges
and circumstances that might beoverbearing and overpowering.
(44:12):
What would you say to thatindividual if they were
listening right now,
Speaker 4 (44:16):
I will tell that individual that, um, there is,
hope this out the air and forthem to call the crisis hotline
number, where they could talk tosomeone right now at this
moment.
And so I that's where I wassorry.
And, and, uh, also what, tell itperson again, there's hope
(44:37):
there's people that's willing tohelp you because your life, it
does matter.
And we
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Awesome.
If you're out there, listen toKatina Bryant, there's hope you
matter.
And there are resources outthere that you can draw on in
order to turn things around foryourself.
Don't give up.
So Katrina, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
It was my pleasure.
I've learned something from youas I always do whenever we get
(45:07):
together.
And we have conversation.
Thank you so much for share withmy listeners, this brief talk
about suicide prevention,because I know as you stated,
there is so much more to know,and there's so much more to do.
So thank you so much for takingthe time to share a little bit
with us, as well as to encourageus to think more about this
(45:29):
area, become more aware and thenalso to take action.
Are you going to come and joinme again next time?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Okay.
We'll have to talk when you'llbe able to have time to come
join me again.
I would love it.
Well until then you take care.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Bye bye.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
I so appreciate courageous, compassionate,
social workers, doing the workof helping and giving hope to
those in seemingly hopelesssituations.
If you are an aspiring socialworker uncertain about the area
of the field to choose, Iencourage you to consider
suicide prevention.
There is much work to be done,and I know that you will find
(46:14):
value and meaning in this workconsider reaching out to social
workers like Katina, who areactively practicing so that you
will learn more.
If you or someone you know, isthinking about suicide, call the
national suicide preventionlifeline.
The number is 1 802 7 3 8 2 5 5.
(46:38):
There are professionals ready toprovide you with free,
confidential support, 24 hours,seven days a week.
In the words of one named JessThorton is not about battling
your past, but fighting for yourfuture.
So please do not be afraid orashamed to ask for help know
that your life matters.
(46:59):
And many people care to see youlive it to the fullest.
Again, that number is 1 802 7 38 2 5 5.
Thinking about the socialworkers who were so influential
in my life so many years ago, ifthey were here and I were to ask
(47:24):
them, what would you say tosomeone who is struggling right
now?
And to be encouraged, they wouldsay more than just don't give
up.
They would say, I dare you notto give up to you.
Who may be overwhelmed by lifeand thinking about giving up.
I dare you not to give up.
I dare you not to give in to thepressure of ending.
(47:48):
Only look up to the hope ofovercoming and overcoming and
winning.
They're so much more to you thanyou may even know right now.
So keep going forward.
Choose to stand to live.
Be bold.
Be brave, dare to be different.
Dare to be courageous.
(48:09):
See, we only got one life tolive, so choose to live.
It sees the chance to turn thatfrown into a smile and refuse to
give up, refuse to give into thepressure to end only look up and
grab, hold the hope to overcomeand win.
Be encouraged.
My brother be encouraged.
(48:30):
My sister, I so appreciatehaving this talk on suicide
prevention and connecting withMrs.
Katina D Bryant.
If you are appreciated listeningto this episode, write a review
to share your thoughts, sharethis podcast episode with others
and subscribe wherever youlisten to podcasts to keep up
(48:51):
with this show.
Do you have a question you wantanswered in a future show?
Do you have topic ideas orfeedback to support creation of
future shows?
Would you like to be a guestconnect with me through email,
send messages to S S inspiredcast@gmail.com?
(49:11):
Well, until next time, Sundaylisteners live on purpose.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Thank you for listening to Sundays with
Chevelle subscribe, wherever youlisten to podcasts and be sure
to tune in next time for anothersocial work inspired episode by.
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