Yes, YOU Can Help Prevent Suicide

thesophiefund

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, a reminder for all of us to learn more about mental illness, suicide, and what we can do to help those who may be struggling.

One of the keys is to end the stigma that too often holds us back. Many people experience suicidal thoughts, but keep it to themselves. Others may notice somebody in an emotional crisis, but are timid to ask if they are thinking of harming themselves.

Nobody is fated to take their own lives. Suicide deaths are preventable, and many recent advances enable us to better prevent them.

These advances include better screening tools for identifying people at risk of suicide, improved care management protocols, upgraded crisis response measures, and suicide-specific therapy treatment. The Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition is urging local healthcare and behavioral health providers to adopt the Zero Suicide Model, which prescribes a package of best practices.

Another advance is the introduction in 2022 of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24/7. You can also call 988 if you are concerned about a loved one, friend, or colleague. Veterans and/or their loved ones and friends can call 988 and then press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line.

Locally, 988 calls go to the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County (SPCS), one of 200 call centers across the country. When people call or text 988, or connect to chat online, they are connected to trained counselors that are part of the Lifeline network. Trained counselors listen, understand how the caller’s problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources if necessary.

Besides connecting through 988, Ithaca-based counselors can be reached by dialing (607) 272-1616.

The Lifeline is funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and administered by Vibrant Emotional Health. SAMSHA provides a Partner Toolkit to help all of us publicize the 988 number and other suicide prevention services.

According to Lifeline, numerous studies have shown that 988 callers feel less suicidal, less depressed, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful after speaking with a Lifeline counselor. 

“More people are understanding what it’s like to reach out for support and are becoming comfortable with that idea,” said Tiffany Bloss, SPCS executive director. “We are here, day or night. Call. Text. Website chat. Individuals can even email our helpline. We are here.”

The latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control serve as a reminder of America’s mental health crisis. Despite improvements in care, we have not turned the corner in reducing suicide deaths in the way prevention tools have produced significant declines in deaths related to cancer and heart disease.

After declining in 2019 and 2020, suicide deaths increased approximately 5 percent in the United States in 2021. Provisional estimates indicate that suicide deaths further increased by 1 percent in 2022, according to the CDC. One encouraging indicator is that suicide deaths among people aged 10-14 declined by 13 percent and among people aged 15-24 by 9 percent.

Overall, suicide rates have risen more than 30 percent in the past two decades.

Take a moment to review the warning signs for suicide, as provided by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Be sure to get help for yourself or others if you see the signs. You may save a life.

According to AFSP, something to look out for when concerned that a person may be suicidal is a change in behavior or the presence of entirely new behaviors. This is of sharpest concern if the new or changed behavior is related to a painful event, loss, or change. Most people who take their lives exhibit one or more warning signs, either through what they say or what they do.

Warning sign: Talk

If a person talks about:

Killing themselves

Feeling hopeless

Having no reason to live

Being a burden to others

Feeling trapped

Unbearable pain

Warning sign: Behavior

Behaviors that may signal risk, especially if related to a painful event, loss or change:

Increased use of alcohol or drugs

Looking for a way to end their lives, such as searching online for methods

Withdrawing from activities

Isolating from family and friends

Sleeping too much or too little

Visiting or calling people to say goodbye

Giving away prized possessions

Aggression

Fatigue

Warning sign: Mood

People who are considering suicide often display one or more of the following moods:

Depression

Anxiety

Loss of interest

Irritability

Humiliation/Shame

Agitation/Anger

Relief/Sudden Improvement

For local, state, and national resources, visit The Sophie Fund’s suicide prevention page.

Our Village

thesophiefund

It takes a village to tackle overwhelming needs in the midst of scarce resources. Open Doors is a program at Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca that provides support to runaway and homeless youth. Support can mean many things and it changes every day.

Credit: Shutterstock

It could be giving grocery gift cards to a youth who hasn’t eaten in a while. It might be a youth advocate taking them to the grocery store so they have food consistently at home. It might be a stop for tacos and a chance to get mentoring or support. A chance to be vulnerable and reach out to a safe adult. It could be linking up a youth to dental or healthcare.

It could be linking them to our many partner agencies in our village such as Tompkins County Youth Services Department, Village at Ithaca, The Learning Web, TST BOCES, Racker, social workers and counselors in Dryden and Ithaca schools, and others.

Open Doors could mean a late-night call where a child needs safety immediately to get out of a dangerous environment.

One of our most critical services is the Host Home, where community members volunteer by opening up their homes on a short-term basis to youth in crisis needing a place to stay. It is a brief but extremely important respite with the hope that our team can help reunify the youth with family, if it’s in the youth’s best interest.

That’s the thing. Open Doors is unique in that it’s voluntary and youth driven. They write their own goal plans. They use their voice and we listen. We trust the youth. That seems basic, nothing revolutionary. But I can’t tell you how often we hear that it’s the first time a youth experiences it. It may be the first time the youth actually feels heard. As much as we like to think our youths’ voices are powerful, they are not always considered or taken seriously. They need advocates. And they get them in our program.

WANT TO HELP? Host Homes are urgently needed in Tompkins County. For information about opening your doors on a short-term, voluntary basis, contact Lora Tsui at ltsui@fcsith.org or call (607) 273-7494.

Many people assume that the situation is not that bad—and then are shocked to hear that our community has homeless and runaway youth. Our work at Open Doors shows us the reality. It has revealed a world of hidden youth homelessness, in the form of quiet couch surfing. It’s often not the in-your-face homelessness we expect to see. It’s behind closed doors. And that’s where Open Doors is needed.

Family reunification is not always possible or even indicated. And not every youth has friends they can stay with. But when they do have that option, we financially help support the youth with basic needs and food because it creates less financial burden on this chosen family and therefore may be able to house them longer. This is important because the longer-term housing option of a youth shelter doesn’t exist here.

Fortunately, our village includes the homes of empathetic and giving community members. We thank everyone who has opened their home to a youth going through housing or food insecurity, emotional, sexual, physical abuse, alienation, lack of love and support, or drug abuse, in the home. You may never know how much you changed their life forever.

Many of us come to this profession because we have experienced hardship ourselves. From personal experience, I have learned just how much struggles can make us more empathic. But compassion burnout is real. And vicarious trauma is real. With this role, where the demands of our most vulnerable youth far surpass our supply of housing and resources, the pain is tremendous on both ends.

We allow ourselves to feel real and difficult emotions. Anger that there isn’t a youth shelter in this community when it is so desperately needed. Deep empathy and compassion for the plight of our clients. We feel overwhelmed when we don’t know where to place a youth. The options are often not there. It’s a huge struggle, it weighs on our conscience, it can keep us up at night.

Sometimes we feel like we can’t catch up. But we show up. And keep showing up. And we ask each and every relevant person we know to step up. And we keep trying. Until we know that youth will have a safe place to rest.

We couldn’t sustain our work without the village. It involves daily check ins regarding our own mental and physical health. In our village, we all know what this work takes and we are always here to cheer each other on and problem-solve, brainstorm, and refill each other’s supplies of energy and hope. Without that constant support, the job becomes too hard. Burnout can hit hard and fast.

That village? It’s us. It’s all of you. It’s those who step up when asked or just because. It’s knowing that each youth is worth the effort and deserves our best efforts. The village hears their quiet voices in a system that doesn’t always listen well enough to hear it. Our youth need our protection, our support, and our hearts.

—By Lora Tsui

Lora Tsui is the Open Doors Team Leader and Crisis Therapist at Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca. This article is excerpted from her keynote speech at Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca’s 2024 annual celebration.

NEW: 2024 Parent’s Guide to College Student Mental Health

thesophiefund

Do you have a child in college? These stressful times require parents to fully grasp the serious mental health challenges their students may face, and be equipped to provide support. Did you know that the majority of college students today meet the criteria for at least one mental health problem? Or that college counseling centers are often overwhelmed?

DOWNLOAD: A Parent’s Guide to College Student Mental Health (PDF)

Rates of depression and anxiety are high among college students. In fact, many students carry suicidal thoughts. Sexual assault is prevalent among college students. Hazing violence as an initiation rite at fraternities and some student organizations is a serious problem.

All of these factors pose even greater risks for students who arrive on campus with a mental health or substance use disorder.

Failure to understand these realities of college student life today, and to help with issues that may arise, can lead to serious consequences.

The Sophie Fund provides this updated guide to help parents—especially those whose children are attending college in Ithaca—better understand the challenges and how to deal with them.

DOWNLOAD: A Parent’s Guide to College Student Mental Health (PDF)

Donate to The Sophie Fund: Our 2024 Appeal

thesophiefund

Every year, to mark Sophie’s birthday on August 23 we launch our annual fundraising appeal. Please consider making a donation today to support The Sophie Fund’s work aiding the mental health of young people in the Ithaca and Tompkins County communities. 100% of donations go directly toward the grants we provide to mental health providers and community organizations for training and programming; and to our modest operating costs.

Thank you for being part of our collective mental health mission!

To Make a Donation:

Click Here for The Sophie Fund Donation Page

Current goals in need of funding include:

—Training in mental health and suicide prevention for Ithaca-area clinicians, social workers, and community members. This includes The Wellness Institute’s annual suicide prevention conference next March; and plans to provide targeted education in suicide prevention for primary care practices sometime this winter or next spring.

—Tompkins County’s “United in Kindness” community events in October for Bullying Prevention Month (one or more expert presentations on bullying TBD).

—Hosting our 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 19 to raise awareness about mental health challenges and supports.

A few highlights of The Sophie Fund’s work over the past 12 months:

Town Hall on Suicide Prevention. The Sophie Fund co-organized and provided a grant for “How Healthcare Helps Prevent Suicides,” a community Town Hall on the Zero Suicide Model for healthcare.

Suicide Prevention Training. We provided a grant to enable 82 local healthcare professionals—including the entire clinical staff at Cornell University’s Counseling and Psychological Services unit—to attend a two-day online training in youth suicide prevention featuring some of the nation’s leading experts hosted by The Wellness Institute.

Suicide Prevention in Primary Care. We collaborated with Cayuga Health and the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition to develop a future education program in suicide prevention for 40 primary care and specialty care practices.

New York State Suicide Prevention Center. We were appointed to serve on the Oversight Board for a $3.5 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant to implement the Zero Suicide model in Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in New York State.

Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force. In October 2023, the task force, which we serve as task force coordinator, organized its second annual United in Kindness series of community events and activities to raise awareness about bullying and domestic abuse and promote kindness and empathy; the task force also distributes to local school districts an annual guide to bullying prevention resources and activities.

Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest. We hosted the 8th annual contest in the Ithaca Commons. The contest brings together college and high school students, mental health providers, local musicians, business sponsors, and the general public to raise awareness about mental health.

Cupcake Button Campaign. The Sophie Fund’s 2023 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign with local college students collected $1,043.78 for the Greg Eells Memorial Fund at Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca.

Education and Resources. The Sophie Fund published online guides including Mental Health Support and Crisis Services; A Parents Guide to College Student Mental Health; and a sexual assault prevention flyer called Be Safe at College!

Compassion Corner: Nurturing the Nurturers. We provided a grant to the Human Services Coalition for a peer-support program benefiting direct human service providers.

“How I See Myself.” The Sophie Fund provided a grant to the Mental Health Association for an art exhibition featuring young artists exploring inner feelings of identity.

Story Walk. We provided a grant to the Family Reading Partnership for a community event providing free books to young readers.

Better Together for Mental Health. In conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month, we participated in this annual Ithaca community event and sponsored bus shelter posters and radio public service announcements saluting and celebrating the local mental health workforce.

Youth Mental Health Policy. New York Governor Kathy Hochul invited The Sophie Fund to participate in a virtual roundtable discussion about youth mental health and the effects of social media.

Agda Osborn Award. Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca presented The Sophie Fund with the 2024 Agda Osborn Award for community service.

James J. Byrnes Award for Excellence. Tompkins Community Bank honored The Sophie Fund with the James J. Byrnes Award for Excellence recognizing “all of the great volunteer work and dedication The Sophie Fund gives to our community.”

For more information on The Sophie Fund’s work, please visit:

http://www.thesophiefund.org

Thank You!

Best Friends, Indeed!

thesophiefund

People and dogs. Living together for some 40,000 years. Inextricably linked. “Man’s best friend.”

Dogs are a part of our daily lives, of human joy. We now know that dogs can also effectively combat mental illness. They are known as emotional support animals and therapy animals. Research confirms how well dogs operate in this sense. I concur. I grew up with dogs, first Charlotte, then after she passed, Rose. And while my mother provided most of the quotidian maintenance, I enjoyed having them around, taking a quick break here and there to pet them, an effective means to de-stress.

Jazzy

When I visited the SPCA for my very own emotional support animal, I was in for a surprise. It had been my mother’s idea, a means of mitigating my isolation. Dealing with mental illness by oneself promises a cruel existence. Thus, I accepted. I saw and walked two dogs before I met Jazzy. The SPCA worker pinpointed the match as my future husky and hound dog mix waltzed into the enclosure. Meeting her at first, she strolled up and rubbed against me. Cue loving smile, cue the worker pointing at me: “There!”

What does the research say about dogs assisting mental illness recovery? One meta-analysis found reductions in heart rate, anxiety, and stress. Other research determined that canine-assisted therapy attenuates anxiety, but also improves a wide range of internalizing and externalizing disorders and global function. Another study supported findings on wellbeing, emotional function, self-esteem, and vitality.

Other varieties of pets, such as cats, may also give their owners greater social support, life satisfaction, happiness, mood, and self-regulation, along with less loneliness. One study considered all manner of companion animals, and though dogs were paramount, positive effects were noted on acceptance, stigma management, social interactions, and emotional sustenance. Researchers have found that even farm animals and horses may aid many emotional conditions.

Emotional support animals (ESAs) are normal pets, not trained for a specific task, that provide comfort, calm, and composure to people with mental disorders. Service animals, by contrast, have a specific task that directly assists their owner with the owner’s disability; a service dog may remind its owner to take their medication or kiss them when they’re having a panic attack. Therapy animals are specifically trained to provide emotional support to others in an institutional setting.  

Therapy dogs can assist the elderly. A study found them to improve quality of life and symptoms of dementia, with lesser, but clear, benefits on depression and anxiety; this was partly mediated by increased exercise. A meta-analysis discovered benefits in dementia symptoms, mostly regarding mood and agitation. Another study found reduction in depression caused by dementia. Finally, in those with severe cognitive disorders, researchers found improvements in health, well-being, depression, and quality of life.

Every year, the Tompkins County SPCA facilitates 1,400 animal adoptions, 100 of which are for prospective emotional support animals, according to SPCA adoptions manager Doug Scott. Furthermore, he said 90 percent of the animals adopted as emotional support animals are cats, and 10 percent are dogs.

Scott estimates that 95 percent of people who adopt emotional support animals are under age 30, 66 percent of them students from Cornell University and Ithaca College. Neither school was able to provide a number of support animals on their campuses.

Having a dog is like gazing into a campfire, smores on demand, having a mano-a-mano with someone who’s so alien from you and so similar to you in all the best ways. Jazzy and I complete each other. It’s a bit like having a child rather than a roommate (aka a cat). I am first in Jazzy’s world. My deep paternal affection for her, without effort—it is intoxicating to this day and moment.

By Ben Komor

Ben Komor has been a certified peer specialist for over eight years and, among other functions in the mental health realm, served as an advisor to the Tompkins County Crisis Negotiation Team. He is a graduate of Ithaca High School, and holds a BA in Human Development and an MS in Health.