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Education is more than the accumulation of knowledge. It’s the growth we experience when digging deep into the topics, systems, and ways of thinking that give flavor to life. Enlighten Me is dedicated to bringing listeners into the world of the unknown and providing meaningful insights into issues that affect us all. In each episode, we bring in researchers and experts from a wide range of fields to discuss a topic and how it relates to their industry.
Part of the TXST Podcast Network: https://www.txst.edu/podcast-network.html
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- Hi, everyone.
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This episode mentions suicide
and themes related to suicide.
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View at your own discretion.
00:00:06:08 - 00:00:09:00
(curious music)
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Hi, I'm Jeremy Thomas,
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and this is another
episode of "Enlighten Me."
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Joining me today is Dr. Megan Rogers.
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Megan, thank you so much
for joining us today.
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Would you start off with
just a brief introduction?
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Tell us a little bit about your backstory
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and what brought you here to Texas State.
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- Yeah, absolutely, and thank you so much
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for having me here today.
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So again, my name is Megan Rogers.
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I am a clinical psychologist by training.
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I am currently an assistant professor
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in the Department of
Psychology here at Texas State.
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To give a little bit of
information about my background,
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I completed my bachelor's
at NC State University
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up in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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I then went down to Florida State
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to complete my Ph.D.
in clinical psychology.
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I went up to Rhode Island
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to complete my clinical internship year,
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which is essentially that
last, very applied component
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of the clinical psychology Ph.D.
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And then I did a postdoctoral fellowship
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at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City
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before moving down here
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to start my faculty
position at Texas State.
00:01:04:20 - 00:01:06:13
- Now, is there something
specific that brought you
00:01:06:13 - 00:01:07:20
to Texas or to Texas State University,
00:01:07:20 - 00:01:10:05
and how long have you
been at the university?
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- Yeah, so I've been here at
Texas State for four years.
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I'm in my fourth year.
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I started in the fall of 2022
as an assistant professor
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in the Department of Psychology.
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And there were a few things
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that brought me here specifically.
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One is just the department environment
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in the Department of
Psychology at Texas State.
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It's a very supportive,
collegial, hardworking department,
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and that environment just can't be beat
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when you're trying to launch your program,
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starting as a new faculty member,
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and just trying to learn all the ropes
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of all of the new hats
that you have to wear.
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I'm wearing a lot of hats now.
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So that was something that
was really important to me.
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Another thing that was
really notable to me
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about Texas State was the opportunity
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to engage in partnerships
across the university.
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So I have been a faculty fellow
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with the Translational
Health Research Center
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for the past two years.
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I actually reached out
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when I was interviewing for
the job here and asked to speak
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with the director,
Melinda, of the program,
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and she just really sold me
on the different opportunities
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and networking, community partnerships.
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And it's been a real pleasure
to work with them as well.
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- I know you've done a lot of research
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over your years so far,
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but what is your research
primarily focused on nowadays,
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your most recent research efforts?
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- Yeah, I would say my
research is broadly focused
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on the topic of suicidal
thoughts and behaviors,
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with, you know, a focus on
just better understanding,
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assessing, and preventing
death by suicide.
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So my work is really
guided by two questions.
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So first, what contributes
to the development
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and maintenance of suicidal thoughts?
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Who is most at risk for suicide?
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And then lastly, a key question
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that I've been really
focusing in on lately is,
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when and under what circumstances
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does a person transition
from suicidal thoughts
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to actually acting on those thoughts
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and making a suicide attempt?
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Most recently, I would say that my work
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has focused on just really understanding
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the acute suicidal crisis state,
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so what is going on in the short term,
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in those hours to days leading
up to a suicide attempt.
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We've made a lot of
progress in understanding
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some of those key kind of symptom domains,
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understanding kind of
the temporal processes
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in which they're operating.
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And I'm hoping that this research
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is really going to spur
further developments,
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and just developing clinically
actionable interventions
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as well as assessments so that we can
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better help those in need.
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- Where did this interest come from?
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How did you first become interested
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in understanding suicide?
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- Yeah, excellent question.
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I would say my experience is twofold.
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So first, on the personal side of things,
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I have been impacted
by suicide in my life,
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as I would say that
probably most of us have
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in some capacity.
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So that was something that
was really important to me,
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just growing up, seeing just
all of the struggles around me
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regarding mental health, my peers,
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and my family and my friends.
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So mental health has always been something
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that's been near and dear to my heart.
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Interestingly, I didn't
even start in psychology.
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I actually started planning
to go into computer science,
00:04:00:08 - 00:04:02:07
go into video game design.
00:04:02:07 - 00:04:03:08
But when I got to college
00:04:03:08 - 00:04:05:04
and just really kind of noticed my passion
00:04:05:04 - 00:04:07:15
for mental health and suicide
prevention blossoming,
00:04:07:15 - 00:04:11:04
I switched over to psychology,
discovered what research was.
00:04:11:04 - 00:04:12:23
I had never, you know, heard of, like,
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scientific research before
in that sort of sense,
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fell in love with research.
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Found out that I was able to
combine my coding background
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with actually doing
scientific inquiry on suicide.
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So that really sparked my interest
00:04:24:15 - 00:04:26:06
in going forward and getting a doctorate
00:04:26:06 - 00:04:28:03
and kind of really just
making this my career,
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making this my life.
00:04:30:03 - 00:04:33:03
With suicide specifically,
though, I didn't actually know
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that suicide was its own
specific subfield of study.
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It's really only been
the past 20 years or so,
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maybe a little bit longer,
in which, you know,
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that suicide as a subfield
has started to blossom.
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I thought that we could only
really study, like, diagnoses,
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like depression or borderline
personality disorder.
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But what I knew I wanted
to do, I wanted to...
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I always used to say I wanted to research
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and treat the most severe of the severe.
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So that led me to applying
00:04:59:05 - 00:05:01:02
to a number of different
doctoral programs.
00:05:01:02 - 00:05:03:00
I ended up working with
my graduate mentor,
00:05:03:00 - 00:05:05:07
Dr. Thomas Joiner, who's
one of the leading experts
00:05:05:07 - 00:05:07:01
in the field of suicidology.
00:05:07:01 - 00:05:09:10
Absolutely fell in love
with the topic area.
00:05:09:10 - 00:05:12:06
So it has been a very, you know,
perfect blend, I would say,
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of personal and professional passions.
00:05:14:15 - 00:05:16:01
- You mentioned something very interesting
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about being able to combine
your computer science background
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with the work you're doing now.
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Can you talk a little bit more
about how that overlap works?
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- From a very young age, actually,
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my dad is a computer
engineer, so I used to sit...
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He worked from home back
before it was cool to do so.
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I used to sit on kind of
the back of the guest bed,
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and I would just watch him code,
and eventually, I was like,
00:05:33:03 - 00:05:35:19
"Hey, can you teach me how to
do this? I wanna build games."
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So I wanted to be a video game developer,
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which, you know, at surface level,
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probably doesn't look
like it really coalesces
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with psychological research very well.
00:05:45:17 - 00:05:47:12
But a lot of what we do in the lab
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actually relates pretty strongly
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to having those quantitative
and those coding skills.
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So for instance, we code behavioral tasks
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that we will do and conduct
with participants in the lab.
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And then when we are done
with any sort of study,
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we are ending up essentially
with a massive data set
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or a set of data sets.
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So there's a lot of coding
that also goes into cleaning
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and managing and putting all
of those data sets together,
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to running the analyses,
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to creating presentable tables and figures
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in a way that's gonna be
digestible to lay audiences.
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- Gotcha.
- So it's been kind of,
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it has been fun to be able
to still do what I loved
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and apply it to something
else that I love.
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What are some of the latest things
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that you've discovered in your research?
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Is there anything new or
interesting that you wanna share
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about some of the latest
research that you've done?
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- Most of my recent work has spanned
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three kind of distinct
yet complementary areas.
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So one is just really understanding
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short-term risk for suicide.
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So what is happening
in those hours to days
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preceding a suicide attempt.
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What are the core symptoms
of an acute suicidal crisis?
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So some of my recent work has
really helped to elucidate,
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what are those key warning signs,
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and how are they working together
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over short periods of time?
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So one of the methodologies
that I've used recently
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is called ecological momentary assessment,
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which sounds like a mouthful,
but it's essentially,
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we are delivering surveys to
our participants' smartphones
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several times a day over the course
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of a week or two weeks or more,
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which is really giving us a granular look
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at how some of these symptoms
are unfolding over hours.
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So with one of our recent studies,
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we were fortunate to have about
165 severely suicidal adults
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recruited across the United States
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who provided four weeks
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of this type of study survey responses.
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So they provided up to, I think,
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about 150 responses over
that four-week period.
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And from there, we've been
able to run some analyses
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and really just identify
four key symptom dimensions,
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one being this intense distress-
and arousal-based state,
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which is really characterized
by hopelessness,
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unbearable psychological pain,
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kind os that perception
that it's unescapable,
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accompanied with things like
kind of sleep disturbances,
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agitation, marked irritability,
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kind of providing that
energy alongside distress
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that's gonna put somebody
at risk for suicide.
00:08:01:15 - 00:08:04:03
The second of these
dimensions is self-alienation,
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so this kind of feeling of
self disgust or self-hatred,
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or a perception that
one's just a total burden
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on themselves or society or the world.
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The third being a more
cognitive dimension,
00:08:14:16 - 00:08:17:00
so really thinking about
the uncontrollability
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of one's thoughts.
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So we find that individuals
who are at risk for suicide
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are often experiencing
this narrowing of attention
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towards one's distress,
just really kind of having
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that ruminative, cyclical,
perseverative thinking
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that is perceived as difficult to control.
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And the fourth dimension here
00:08:33:11 - 00:08:35:23
is actually a disconnectedness
and withdrawal state.
00:08:35:23 - 00:08:38:09
So it's kind of withdrawal
from other people,
00:08:38:09 - 00:08:39:15
withdrawal from activities,
00:08:39:15 - 00:08:42:18
withdrawal from even
food or drink or alcohol
00:08:42:18 - 00:08:46:03
or substances that maybe they'd
been using for a long time.
00:08:46:03 - 00:08:47:18
We see that in the kind of the days
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leading up to suicide as well.
00:08:50:01 - 00:08:51:14
So I'm really hoping that
00:08:51:14 - 00:08:54:20
with kind of these combined
symptom dimensions,
00:08:54:20 - 00:08:56:21
it's gonna have two
pretty big implications.
00:08:56:21 - 00:08:59:14
So one, again, is just
really thinking about,
00:08:59:14 - 00:09:01:19
how can we leverage this information
00:09:03:00 - 00:09:06:04
to develop clinically
actionable assessments
00:09:06:04 - 00:09:07:08
as well as interventions?
00:09:07:08 - 00:09:10:13
We know that most of those
symptoms can be intervened upon,
00:09:10:13 - 00:09:12:10
so just figuring out the timing.
00:09:12:10 - 00:09:14:03
Can we identify when somebody is going
00:09:14:03 - 00:09:16:11
from a lower risk state
to a higher risk state
00:09:16:11 - 00:09:18:22
using some of this information?
00:09:18:22 - 00:09:22:07
And then secondly, we also
know that the majority
00:09:22:07 - 00:09:24:04
of individuals who die by suicide
00:09:24:04 - 00:09:26:07
or who are experiencing suicidal thoughts
00:09:26:07 - 00:09:29:04
actually deny having
those thoughts to anybody,
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even in the days leading
up to their deaths.
00:09:31:17 - 00:09:34:16
So you'll notice those symptom
dimensions that I mentioned
00:09:34:16 - 00:09:37:07
didn't mention suicidal thoughts at all.
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And that's because we want to be able
00:09:38:19 - 00:09:40:20
to overcome this issue of non-disclosure.
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We know people don't always
want to talk about it,
00:09:43:01 - 00:09:44:13
especially in the United States.
00:09:44:13 - 00:09:46:14
They're scared they're
gonna be hospitalized,
00:09:46:14 - 00:09:49:14
with the accompanying medical
bills, financial consequences,
00:09:49:14 - 00:09:52:01
possibly losing their job,
and just all of the stigma
00:09:52:01 - 00:09:54:07
and shame that goes along with that.
00:09:54:07 - 00:09:56:07
So we wanna make sure that
we're able to help people
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without necessarily
relying on them telling us
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about their suicidal thoughts.
00:10:00:19 - 00:10:02:07
- So what are some of those signs
00:10:02:07 - 00:10:04:00
or things that other
people can look out for
00:10:04:00 - 00:10:08:08
that someone is showing some
potential suicidal ideation?
00:10:08:08 - 00:10:11:02
- Yeah, so I would say
anybody can recognize
00:10:11:02 - 00:10:14:01
some of the signs, so
we know, for instance,
00:10:14:01 - 00:10:17:06
if somebody is becoming
more withdrawn, more quiet,
00:10:17:06 - 00:10:20:08
maybe evasive, not really
spending time with people
00:10:20:08 - 00:10:23:07
or doing the same activities
that they used to,
00:10:23:07 - 00:10:26:05
that would be a key
warning sign to look for.
00:10:26:05 - 00:10:29:20
Simultaneously, however, we
also have a lot of evidence
00:10:29:20 - 00:10:32:15
showing that kind of
intense amounts of energy
00:10:32:15 - 00:10:34:04
or arousal are actually needed
00:10:34:04 - 00:10:36:06
to overcome our survival instincts
00:10:36:06 - 00:10:38:10
and actually make a suicide attempt,
00:10:38:10 - 00:10:41:09
so looking for things like
just kind of agitated arousal,
00:10:41:09 - 00:10:44:16
like not being able to
sit still, extra fidgety,
00:10:44:16 - 00:10:48:17
as well as just acute insomnia
or sleep disturbances.
00:10:48:17 - 00:10:51:09
So somebody who has more recently started
00:10:51:09 - 00:10:52:16
having a lot of sleep problems
00:10:52:16 - 00:10:54:23
is actually likely to be at higher risk
00:10:54:23 - 00:10:56:22
than somebody who's just
had chronic insomnia
00:10:56:22 - 00:10:58:05
and has never been able to sleep well,
00:10:58:05 - 00:11:01:02
so really looking at some of
those changes in patterns.
00:11:01:02 - 00:11:03:19
And then the third thing that
I would typically look for
00:11:03:19 - 00:11:06:20
would be kind of, again,
that cognitive fixation.
00:11:06:20 - 00:11:08:13
Are they really just kind of getting stuck
00:11:08:13 - 00:11:09:23
on their problems or their thoughts?
00:11:09:23 - 00:11:11:19
Does it seem like it's
just kind of been tough
00:11:11:19 - 00:11:13:02
for them to disengage
00:11:13:02 - 00:11:16:11
or maybe engage with some
other activity or conversation?
00:11:16:11 - 00:11:18:21
So if somebody's really
getting stuck perseverating
00:11:18:21 - 00:11:20:23
on their distress, and they're perceiving
00:11:20:23 - 00:11:23:09
that they can't stop thinking about it,
00:11:23:09 - 00:11:24:18
that's a sign that maybe they need
00:11:24:18 - 00:11:26:10
a little bit of extra support.
00:11:26:10 - 00:11:29:18
- So you mentioned certain
signs of suicidal ideation.
00:11:29:18 - 00:11:32:16
What can we do if we see a
family member or a friend
00:11:32:16 - 00:11:34:09
or a loved one that's
showing some of these signs?
00:11:34:09 - 00:11:35:14
What actions can we take?
00:11:35:14 - 00:11:37:09
- Mm-hmm, absolutely,
and I think there are,
00:11:37:09 - 00:11:39:22
you know, things that all of us can do.
00:11:39:22 - 00:11:41:18
So the first one is that there are
00:11:41:18 - 00:11:45:02
a number of kind of gatekeeper
or peer support trainings
00:11:45:02 - 00:11:49:04
that are out there, one
of which is called QPR.
00:11:49:04 - 00:11:51:09
So Q stands for question.
00:11:51:09 - 00:11:54:05
So really, just directly
asking that question
00:11:54:05 - 00:11:55:18
when you notice that
somebody's struggling,
00:11:55:18 - 00:11:57:11
so, hey, you know, I've noticed
00:11:57:11 - 00:11:59:17
that you've been going
through a tough time lately,
00:11:59:17 - 00:12:01:16
so I just really wanted
to check in with you.
00:12:01:16 - 00:12:02:14
Have you been having thoughts
00:12:02:14 - 00:12:04:10
of hurting yourself or killing yourself,
00:12:04:10 - 00:12:06:21
or have you been having
thoughts of suicide?
00:12:06:21 - 00:12:10:10
And I think that's oftentimes
a tough question to ask.
00:12:10:10 - 00:12:13:01
So suicide has been pretty
traditionally stigmatized
00:12:13:01 - 00:12:15:12
in our society, so people
are often worried like,
00:12:15:12 - 00:12:18:02
hey, if I talk about
it, if I ask about it,
00:12:18:02 - 00:12:20:06
am I gonna be potentially
putting that thought
00:12:20:06 - 00:12:21:17
into somebody's head?
00:12:21:17 - 00:12:23:04
Am I gonna make it more likely
00:12:23:04 - 00:12:25:20
that they're actually going
to make a suicide attempt?
00:12:25:20 - 00:12:28:19
And the research evidence
is overwhelmingly no.
00:12:28:19 - 00:12:30:17
So what we know is actually
00:12:30:17 - 00:12:34:23
not only does asking the
question not increase one's risk,
00:12:34:23 - 00:12:36:15
it's not harmful to them,
00:12:36:15 - 00:12:39:05
but we also see, even if you were asking,
00:12:39:05 - 00:12:42:13
as I do in my research
studies, sometimes repeatedly,
00:12:42:13 - 00:12:44:04
we also see sometimes that there is
00:12:44:04 - 00:12:46:05
a slight decrease in their risk,
00:12:46:05 - 00:12:48:00
just some relief that it's, you know,
00:12:48:00 - 00:12:49:06
finally out in the open
00:12:49:06 - 00:12:51:04
and that they're actually
receiving that help
00:12:51:04 - 00:12:53:06
and that support that they need.
00:12:53:06 - 00:12:56:12
The P in that QPR stands for persuade.
00:12:56:12 - 00:12:58:23
And then the R stands for refer.
00:12:58:23 - 00:13:00:14
So I'm not gonna go into all the nuances,
00:13:00:14 - 00:13:03:05
but essentially what
this stage is about is,
00:13:03:05 - 00:13:06:02
hey, you know, there are
professionals out there
00:13:06:02 - 00:13:09:06
that have been trained
and know how to, you know,
00:13:09:06 - 00:13:10:23
manage and, you know, work with somebody
00:13:10:23 - 00:13:13:02
who's feeling these feelings.
00:13:13:02 - 00:13:15:01
You know, would you be open to us
00:13:15:01 - 00:13:16:08
kind of making that connection
00:13:16:08 - 00:13:18:15
and setting up an appointment?
00:13:18:15 - 00:13:20:07
So that's something that anybody can do
00:13:20:07 - 00:13:22:11
when they notice that a
friend or a family member
00:13:22:11 - 00:13:24:18
or a loved one is struggling.
00:13:24:18 - 00:13:27:08
The other thing that I would mention
00:13:27:08 - 00:13:30:20
is just really kind of educating
oneself about the signs
00:13:30:20 - 00:13:32:22
and just like, you know,
really kind of making sure
00:13:32:22 - 00:13:34:15
that you're present in somebody's life
00:13:34:15 - 00:13:36:07
if they are kind of experiencing
00:13:36:07 - 00:13:37:19
and kind of showing some of these signs
00:13:37:19 - 00:13:39:14
and some of these changes, especially,
00:13:39:14 - 00:13:41:11
- I kind of wanna talk
about your research today
00:13:41:11 - 00:13:43:21
and how you're applying it to anything
00:13:43:21 - 00:13:45:03
that you're doing here at Texas State.
00:13:45:03 - 00:13:47:20
Are there any organizations or, you know,
00:13:47:20 - 00:13:50:05
collaborative efforts that
you're applying this research
00:13:50:05 - 00:13:52:21
and, like, making efforts
to show this impact
00:13:52:21 - 00:13:55:04
and spread that awareness
to people across campus?
00:13:55:04 - 00:13:57:22
- We have a few different areas
that we've been exploring.
00:13:57:22 - 00:13:59:06
So I am a faculty fellow
00:13:59:06 - 00:14:01:14
working with the Translational
Health Research Center.
00:14:01:14 - 00:14:03:13
As part of that, I've given presentations
00:14:03:13 - 00:14:05:23
to community members and laypeople
00:14:05:23 - 00:14:07:05
who are interested in this area.
00:14:07:05 - 00:14:11:10
So I do give kind of suicide
risk assessment trainings.
00:14:11:10 - 00:14:12:18
This is also something that I do
00:14:12:18 - 00:14:14:22
in the surrounding
community and nationwide.
00:14:14:22 - 00:14:17:04
So I give a variety of different workshops
00:14:17:04 - 00:14:20:08
and seminars that are
focused on various aspects
00:14:20:08 - 00:14:23:05
of suicide risk assessment, management,
00:14:23:05 - 00:14:25:04
intervention, so on and so forth,
00:14:25:04 - 00:14:28:02
so really just trying to
be out there in the public,
00:14:28:02 - 00:14:29:20
kind of spreading that awareness.
00:14:29:20 - 00:14:32:19
On campus specifically, one of the areas
00:14:32:19 - 00:14:37:12
that we've been working with
is I am a co-investigator
00:14:37:12 - 00:14:40:19
and data analyst with the
FESTA Program, which stands for
00:14:40:19 - 00:14:44:03
Fentanyl Education Support
Training and Awareness.
00:14:44:03 - 00:14:46:23
So this is a grant that
was funded by SAMHSA.
00:14:46:23 - 00:14:49:04
We are in year two of five right now.
00:14:49:04 - 00:14:50:07
And as the name suggests,
00:14:50:07 - 00:14:52:16
it's really about spreading
fentanyl education
00:14:52:16 - 00:14:55:07
and awareness in middle
schools and high schools,
00:14:55:07 - 00:14:56:22
at the university setting.
00:14:56:22 - 00:15:00:05
And although we're focused
primarily on fentanyl,
00:15:00:05 - 00:15:03:02
we also do want to incorporate
some of those aspects
00:15:03:02 - 00:15:05:00
of mental health as well
as suicide prevention
00:15:05:00 - 00:15:08:11
in some of our educational and
awareness materials as well.
00:15:08:11 - 00:15:10:11
So that's been another avenue.
00:15:10:11 - 00:15:13:15
I've also been in conversations recently
00:15:13:15 - 00:15:16:21
with the Counseling Center
who has a very robust,
00:15:16:21 - 00:15:18:05
you know, system in place already.
00:15:18:05 - 00:15:20:01
But I think, you know,
we've had conversations
00:15:20:01 - 00:15:23:03
about the possibility
of just kind of building
00:15:23:03 - 00:15:25:05
and deepening that partnership a bit more.
00:15:25:05 - 00:15:26:15
- I think it's great that you're already
00:15:26:15 - 00:15:29:04
forming partnerships and
looking forward to new ones
00:15:29:04 - 00:15:30:10
to help spread this information.
00:15:30:10 - 00:15:31:17
I think it's gonna be very helpful
00:15:31:17 - 00:15:33:09
and very useful for a lot of people.
00:15:33:09 - 00:15:35:14
- Correct me if I'm wrong,
but you've won several awards
00:15:35:14 - 00:15:37:09
over the past couple years
for your research as well.
00:15:37:09 - 00:15:38:16
Can you talk about that a little bit?
00:15:38:16 - 00:15:41:05
- I've been very honored
over the past couple years.
00:15:41:05 - 00:15:44:10
I was awarded with the Rising Star Award,
00:15:44:10 - 00:15:46:14
I think about two or three years ago,
00:15:46:14 - 00:15:49:11
from the Association of Behavioral
and Cognitive Therapies,
00:15:49:11 - 00:15:52:04
the Suicide and Self-Injury
Special Interest Group.
00:15:52:04 - 00:15:53:23
So I won their Rising Star Award.
00:15:53:23 - 00:15:58:22
I believe in the fall of 2023,
2024, somewhere in there,
00:15:59:11 - 00:16:02:04
was awarded with the Association
of Psychological Sciences
00:16:02:04 - 00:16:04:04
Rising Star Award, so
that was a huge honor.
00:16:04:04 - 00:16:07:04
That was something I'd
always been looking towards,
00:16:07:04 - 00:16:09:01
you know, from my first
time in graduate school
00:16:09:01 - 00:16:11:06
when I, you know, became
aware that these existed,
00:16:11:06 - 00:16:13:14
you know, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed.
00:16:13:14 - 00:16:15:04
You know, it was very aspirational.
00:16:15:04 - 00:16:17:14
So it was an honor to
actually be awarded with that.
00:16:17:14 - 00:16:19:19
I was also awarded this past spring
00:16:19:19 - 00:16:22:00
with the American
Association of Suicidology's
00:16:22:00 - 00:16:23:03
Edwin Shneidman Award,
00:16:23:03 - 00:16:26:02
which is essentially their
early career achievement award
00:16:26:02 - 00:16:28:20
for research contributions in this area.
00:16:28:20 - 00:16:31:01
That was another one that was
near and dear to my heart.
00:16:31:01 - 00:16:34:12
I'd been a member and
been involved with AAS
00:16:34:12 - 00:16:36:00
for about 10 years.
00:16:36:00 - 00:16:38:12
I actually served a stint
on their board of directors
00:16:38:12 - 00:16:43:04
through an elected position
back in 2019 to 2021.
00:16:43:04 - 00:16:46:09
So it was a great honor to
just have my work recognized
00:16:46:09 - 00:16:49:01
and show that I actually am
making a significant impact
00:16:49:01 - 00:16:51:01
and, you know, trying to help save lives.
00:16:51:01 - 00:16:52:09
Are there any other best practices
00:16:52:09 - 00:16:53:21
or tips you'd like to share for people
00:16:53:21 - 00:16:55:18
who might not be familiar with these types
00:16:55:18 - 00:16:58:14
of conversations about suicidal ideation?
00:16:58:14 - 00:17:00:20
- I think the best tip I have
00:17:00:20 - 00:17:04:16
is just trying to familiarize yourself.
00:17:04:16 - 00:17:08:04
Suicide may feel taboo,
it may feel stigmatized,
00:17:08:04 - 00:17:10:10
especially in certain cultures,
00:17:10:10 - 00:17:13:22
but knowing that suicide
is a universal problem
00:17:13:22 - 00:17:16:09
that can impact any and all of us,
00:17:16:09 - 00:17:19:19
and likely will in some capacity
at some point in our lives,
00:17:19:19 - 00:17:22:16
so just being aware of
those signs, being aware of,
00:17:22:16 - 00:17:25:13
hey, what would I do if I
noticed that I was struggling
00:17:25:13 - 00:17:27:23
or that somebody I love is struggling?
00:17:27:23 - 00:17:30:22
I think just trying to
not shy away from it
00:17:30:22 - 00:17:32:09
would be one of my tips.
00:17:32:09 - 00:17:34:02
- Thank you so much for
sharing that information.
00:17:34:02 - 00:17:35:11
You're doing a lot of great work
00:17:35:11 - 00:17:36:23
and a lot of impactful work.
00:17:36:23 - 00:17:39:18
And I can't wait to see how
your partnerships on campus
00:17:39:18 - 00:17:41:11
can help spread this awareness.
00:17:41:11 - 00:17:42:07
- Thank you so much.
00:17:42:07 - 00:17:44:05
- This has been another
episode of "Enlighten Me,"
00:17:44:05 - 00:17:46:03
and we'll see you on the next one.
00:17:46:03 - 00:17:48:07
(bright music)