aBy KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
COVINGTON – The years-old policy of the media not reporting suicides was given a second look in the closing hour of the Suicide Symposium held last week.
A panel of experts gave their own opinion on the longtime policy, adhered to almost universally by all different media, but generally agreed that something needs to change so the general public is more aware that suicide is happening all around them, and more frequently than most think.
“Talking about it doesn’t make someone suicidal,” said NAMI St. Tammany Director Nick Richard. “The more we talk about it publicly the more it validates the person and helps the public know it is happening.”
“If the community doesn’t know the number of suicides that are occurring around them, how do they know they need to be more supportive?” said Adele Bruce-Smith. “The more we talk openly about mental illness the more people will get help.”
Dr. Charles Preston, parish coroner who organized the symposium of experts on the subject, believes the public discussion has to improve dramatically.
“We need to talk about it and we need to talk about it a lot,” he said. “We need to say the word since it will take our entire community working together to help those in need. We have been silent about suicide for a long time and it hasn’t helped. The more we talk about it the more people will come together to find solutions, and get help for those who need it.”
However, the question of reporting suicides at all also brought the question of how much detail should be given, if media began to publicize them. It was suggested that it wouldn’t hurt to say there was a local suicide, but not give the details.
“If the details are provided it is not good for people who are at-risk,” said Dr. Ann Conn. “But right now only 48 percent of the people with a mental illness are accessing care. If we freak out when we hear there is a suicide it is bad for others who are at-risk.”
One local chaplain with the coroner’s team that sends a representative to every suicide in St. Tammany to provide support for family members said there also needs to be a change from the pulpit.
“I’ve been on suicide calls and I know that the church world needs to understand God doesn’t believe you will go to hell if you commit suicide. One priest finally told me that after he studied the Scriptures enough he is certain that if someone is mentally sick enough to commit suicide, they are not in their right mind and he did not believe they will go to hell. But some church leaders are still teaching that and it needs to change,” he said.
Preston said that his biggest concern with publicizing suicides is the incorrect information that frequently gets posted on social media.
“Newspapers have rules, but Social Media has no rules,” he said. “Some of the things we see on social media are where there is a problem. But the bottom line is that if we are not talking enough about suicide and the fact it is a mental illness, then how do we fix it?”
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