National Suicide Prevention Week

September is Suicide Prevention Month; in addition, National Suicide Prevention Week started yesterday and runs through September 13th. While we always need to be talking about suicide, suicidal ideation, and mental health, this year, it feels even more vital to do so.

While this year there is no one universal theme for Suicide Prevention Week, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention picked “Looking out for each other,” To Write Love On Her Arms picked "I hope you stay," and The National Alliance on Mental Illness picked "Start a Conversation. Be the Difference," as well as highlighting the importance of 988 for those in crisis.

Together these themes recognize that many of us are feeling overwhelmed right now and that the best suicide prevention includes a holistic and community-wide approach. Often the best suicide prevention is providing safe and brave spaces to talk openly about our mental health so that we can recognize we are not alone and that there are many people and groups who want to support us when we are struggling.

Below is Wentworth Miller's Active Minds speech he gave almost a decade ago that is an important example of how meaningful talking about our mental health experiences can be. Wentworth is vulnerable about his own experiences with suicidal ideation (from childhood), the trauma caused by people's response to that ideation, and how he used the power of telling his story to learn to thrive and help others.