Suicide Prevention, Awareness, and Response

This is the reading list from a grad school seminar I created and facilitated in Spring 2016 at the Univeresity of Minnesota.

Introduction

This seminar is to help you, the youth worker, become comfortable and knowledgeable speaking to youth about suicide. To know the subject, you must study, read, and immerse yourself in discussions that address: who, what, when, where, and why of suicide.

In studying this subject, you must always be cognizant of your own well-being. This is a difficult subject, and may bring up personal grief related to past events, current events, or may cause anxiety about the future. Know that help is available. While this seminar is intended to help you learn and cope with suicide, it has limitations to the support it can provide. In an emergency, call 911.

All discussions in class should be treated with respect and confidentiality.

Reading List

Online encounters of suicide

Morse, F. (2016). Facebook adds new suicide prevention tool in the UK. BBC. Visited online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35608276/facebook-adds-new-suicide-prevention-tool-in-the-uk on 2/19/16.

Stern, S. R. (2003). Encountering distressing information in online research: a consideration of legal and ethical responsibilities. new media & society, 5(2), 249-266.

Westerlund, M. (2013). Talking suicide: online conversations about a taboo subject. Nordicom Review, 34(2), 35-46.

At-Risk Behaviors

Wood, S.M., & Craigen, L.M. (2011). Self-Injurious Behavior in Gifted and Talented Youth: What Every Educator Should Know. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 34(6), 839-859.

Suicide in the media

Collings, S.C., & Kemp, C.G., (2010). Death knocks, professional practice, and the public good: The media experience of suicide reporting in New Zealand. Social Science and Medicine, 71(2), 244-248.

Pirkis, J., Blood, R.W., Skehan, J., & Dare, A. (2010). Suicide in the news: informing strategies to improve the reporting of suicide. Health Communication, 25(6-7), 576-577.

Niederkrotenthaler, T., Sonneck, G., Niederkrotenthaler, T., Till, B., Kapusta, N. D., Voracek, M., Dervic, K., Dervic, K., & Sonneck, G. (2009). Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population-based ecologic study. Social Science and Medicine, 69(7), 1085-1090.

Grieving the loss of a completed suicide in a family

Powell, K.A., & Matthys, A. (2013). Effects of Suicide on Siblings: Uncertainty and the Grief Process. Journal of Family Communication, 13(4), 321-339.

Coping with completed suicide

Davis, J.M., & Bates, C. (1990). Faculty suicide: Guidelines for effective coping with a suicide in a counselor-training program. Counselor Education & Supervision, 29(3), 197.

Hsiung, Robert C. (2007). A suicide in an online mental health support group: reactions of the group members, administrative responses, and recommendations. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(4), 495-500.

Multicultural View of Suicide

Zenere, F.J., & Lazarus, P.J. (1997). The Decline of Youth Suicidal Behavior in an Urban, Multicultural Public School System Following the Introduction of a Suicide Prevention and Intervention Program. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 27(4), 387-403