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- 23 - accessHealthNews.net August 2023 Volume 9 | Issue No. 73 F ear leads to stigma, and stigma demands silence. It's no wonder that we're reluctant to talk about child suicide. After all, what parent doesn't fear the unthinkable? Silence, however, will not bring the change we need to make the world a safer, kinder place for children. In a recent webinar hosted by Mental Health America, three advocates explained the importance of involving everyone, especially children, in ongoing conversations about mental health. Shannon CrossBear, a parent advocate, shared the story of the loss of her 19-year-old son to suicide; Lanee Higgins shared the story of her role as a teacher in the healing of students after the loss of their peer to suicide; Dr. Stephen J. Cozza shared psychiatric insights debunking myths around conversations about suicide. CrossBear's story of loss was especially emblematic of the need for conversation about suicide because of the circumstances surrounding her son's death. Recognizing the risk and his need for immediate help and support, CrossBear's family ensured that he was in a safe center on suicide watch — but later learned that he had died, in that facility, on suicide watch. The news, CrossBear said, seemed impossible. "Our family was left with this big, huge hole about, first of all, 'Wait a minute. Everything we've been taught is to get this person to safety, and we did all of this. And this was the result," CrossBear said. If the system designed to support and care for their son had failed him, how could they hold the system accountable? After their loss, CrossBear said, she learned many more important aspects of safe centers, such as having line of sight on the patients at all times and maintaining safe physical environments so implements of harm aren't accessible to patients. However, she hadn't known of these standards when they mattered for her son for the simple reason that nobody spoke about those centers or the suicide watch patients they care for. After the loss of her son, CrossBear said, she realized just how many others in her community were suffering from the loss of a loved one by suicide, but who were grieving in isolation because of the heavy stigmas around talking about those deaths. "We need to face those things, we need to talk about those things, because the reality is that it does happen," CrossBear said. The more a community gets involved in the conversations around mental health and suicide prevention, the better equipped its members are to intervene and create positive outcomes for vulnerable children. For example, doctors should be checking up on mental health as regularly as they check up on children's physical health. "It's the third leading cause of death for certain age groups. It's a public health issue, but we don't treat it like we treat other illnesses or diseases," CrossBear said. Mental health and physical health are both health. Although clinicians and health providers ought to be a reliable front line for catching signs of dangerous mental health in children, CrossBear also gave the example of the neighborhood parent with the full fridge whose house children often go to hang out after school. That parent, being a member of the community with lots of access to the children, would be an ideal candidate to encourage kids to be open and honest about their mental health. However, without an ongoing community conversation about suicide, parents and other people in that position likely won't have the idea or the education about how to open that dialogue with the kids they interact with. "We need to face those things, we need to talk about those things, because the reality is that it does happen." - Shannon CrossBear, Parent Advocate READ MORE

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