Suicide Prevention Conference stresses availability of help, hope

PROVO — Hope and help always exist, and everyone can do something.

That was a main theme at the eighth annual Suicide Prevention Conference held Friday at Brigham Young University. The conference, which gathers mental health and suicide experts, also promoted understanding and help to facilitate those who work with adolescents at risk for suicide and survivors of suicide.

In addition to keynote speaker Michael McLean, the conference included eight breakout sessions ranging from a panel of suicide survivors to sessions on recognizing those who are at risk and healing from trauma.

A panel of survivors, Jeff and Charn Burton and their daughter, Lauren, and Jan Brimhall talked about their experiences with suicide and the resulting aftermath. The Burtons' son, Jordan, committed suicide when he was 18 years old and so did Brimhall's son, Cade, when he was 14.

Charn Burton said that even with all the knowledge that is available about suicide, people treat the family differently because of the stigma.

"Because our son completed in our home, a lot of people won't come to our home," she said. "A lot of people avoid us and don't know how to treat us. ... (They think) 'they're not the Burtons anymore, they're the ones whose son committed suicide."'

Jan Brimhall agreed, saying her family had a similar experience.

"Some of the people we thought were our best friends stopped calling us and coming by and seeing us," she said.

Charn Burton said ongoing support is the best thing a family can receive. "There is nothing you can say that is going to comfort them; just be there and listen to them," she said. "You don't need to say a thing."

Other sessions laid out plans for social workers and school counselors to help children in schools after a crisis, specifically for those who knew someone who committed suicide. Allowing the children to talk and to cry and to feel their emotions in a safe, healthy environment helps the friends of suicide victims cope with the loss, said Maureen James, social work coordinator for the Granite School District.

"The scariest part is that (the children think) you have to have some sort of answer," James told counselors. "You're not going to do that, you're going to help process this."

She said one of the hardest decisions for schools to make is how to recognize the student who died without doing more for one student than for another.

"We don't want to recognize him for (killing himself), but he is a student," she said.

Another session discussed how adolescents who have substance-abuse problems consider and act on suicide when the substance they take isn't meeting their expectations.