Suicidal thoughts, much like mental health conditions, can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. In fact, suicide is often the result of an untreated mental health condition. Suicidal thoughts, although common, should not be considered normal and often indicate more serious issues. Suicide is a stigmatized, and often taboo, topic.
It can be frightening if someone you love talks about suicidal thoughts. It can be even more frightening if you find yourself thinking about dying or giving up on life. Not taking these kinds of thoughts seriously can have devastating outcomes, as suicide is a permanent solution to often temporary problems. According to CDC statistics, suicide rates have increased by 35% since 1999. More than 48,000 lives were lost to suicide in 2018 alone. Comments or thoughts about suicide can begin small like, “I wish I wasn’t here” or “Nothing matters.” But over time, they can become more explicit and dangerous.
Here are a few other warning signs of suicide:
- Increased alcohol and drug use
- Aggressive behavior
- Withdrawal from friends, family and community
- Dramatic mood swings
- Impulsive or reckless behavior
Like any other health emergency, it’s important to address a mental health crisis like suicide quickly and effectively. If your friend or family member struggles with suicidal ideation day-to-day, let them know that they can talk with you about what they’re going through. This can help your loved one feel heard and validated. Let them know that mental health professionals are trained to help people understand their feelings and improve mental wellness and resiliency. Suicidal thoughts are a symptom, and just like any other they can be treated, and they can improve over time.
NAMI Get Involved
NAMI Risk of Suicide
Resources
American Counseling Association Suicide Prevention Month Knowledge Center
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
MCADV has added the Recite Me Accessibility tool to our website! Because domestic violence can affect anyone, everybody needs access to information about violence and healthy relationships. One in four people in the United States has a disability. This includes people with dyslexia, intellectual or developmental disabilities, who are blind or have low vision, or who otherwise face barriers to information due to inaccessible websites.
The Recite Me toolbar provides our website users with a wide range of accessibility and language support options including, text to speech functionality, fully customizable styling features, reading aids and a translation tool with over 100 languages. Everyone should be able to access our website in the language they are most comfortable. Recite Me provides text translation for more than 100 languages, as well as 35 text to speech voices. It gives an inclusive online experience with customizable options allowing users to choose how they navigate and consume information.
The Recite Me website accessibility tool provides every MCADV website user with the tools needed to create a unique experience. For more information on the Recite Me accessibility tool and to utilize it on our website, click the link below.
Economic Security and Domestic Violence
Domestic and dating violence, or intimate partner violence (IPV), is a common reality that has short and long-term negative effects on survivors’ economic security and independence. Survivors’ economic needs often drive them to stay with abusers longer, leading to increased economic abuse, injuries, and even fatalities. Domestic violence has economic impacts on survivors throughout their lifetimes. Additionally, women living in poverty experience domestic violence at twice the rate of those who do not, which furthers the reciprocal relationship between abuse and economic hardship.
Equal pay would cut poverty among working women and their families by more than half and add approximately $513 billion to the national economy. A survivor may be forced to stay with an abuser due to concerns about economic stability and the impact of the gender wage gap. In a 2012 survey, three out of four victims said they stayed with their abusers longer for economic reasons. Of the 85% of victims who returned to their abusers, a significant number attributed an inability to control and manage their finances.
In 2019, Mississippi women who were full-time wage and salary workers had an average usual weekly earnings of $669, or 80.6% of the $830 average usual weekly earnings of their male counterparts. By the next year, the national pay gap was 82 cents. That’s how much women in the U.S. who work full time, year-round are paid for every dollar paid to men. The pay gap for Black women in Mississippi is even more dire, 56 cents to the dollar. Like all women, survivors of domestic violence (who are predominantly women), would benefit from equal pay initiatives. As long as women make less than men for performing the same work, survivors’ ability to gain financial stability and independence is hampered. The amount of time that a survivor might need to continue relying on support from an abuser could extend longer than necessary.
Increasing the minimum wage will also better enable survivors, and all women, to build assets to help them and their families meet both daily and long-term needs. A low minimum wage disproportionately affects women because women, especially women of color, are more likely to hold low-wage jobs than men. Low-wage workers are also particularly vulnerable to exploitation (low wages, wage theft, unsafe working conditions, domestic and sexual violence, no opportunities for advancement, etc.). Limited skills, inadequate education, language ability, and immigration status make workers more vulnerable to exploitation and less likely to want to, or to be able to, challenge it for fear of retaliation, including job loss, sexual violence and deportation.
When survivors of domestic violence have stable access to resources that help them build economic resiliency, they and their families are more likely to remain safe and secure. For more information on how you can advocate for Economic Security for domestic violence victims, contact our Policy and Systems Advocacy Coordinator at 601-981-9196 or robin.jackson@mcadv.org.
Let’s Not Add Another Name With a Period
Robin Williams. Phillip Adams. Anthony Bourdain. Kate Spade. Caroline Flack. Marilyn Monroe. Do you know what all these men and women have in common? They all committed suicide. All of them had access to the best doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists that money can buy. Yet, the thoughts in their mind suggested to their mental psyche that it was better for them to end their life than to seek the help and support needed to sustain a better quality of life. More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. Seventy-seven percent of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, 2021).
Suicide is often the result of an untreated mental health condition. Suicidal thoughts, although common, should not be considered normal and often indicate more serious issues (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2021). Stigma, particularly surrounding mental disorders and suicide, means many people thinking of taking their own life or who have attempted suicide are not seeking help and are therefore not getting the help they need. The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. Only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy. Raising community awareness and breaking down the taboo is important for countries to make progress in preventing suicide (World Health Organization, 2021).
Suicides are preventable. The best prevention is to treat the underlying causes. If a person is depressed, or is a substance abuser, for example, treating the disorder helps to prevent the disease from progressing to the point of suicidal thinking. Medication along with counseling have been shown to be the best methods of treatment. Recognizing the warning signs and seeking help are the best methods of prevention (Stanford Hospital, 2021).
Shelter Spotlight
House of Grace
At House of Grace, the staff is driven by a single goal; with God as their guide, to empower women to walk in dignity and grace. The House of Grace has operated a Domestic Violence Shelter for over twenty years in North Mississippi. They are a Christ-centered ministry educating and serving the needs of women and children impacted by domestic violence. Lorine Cady founded the program in May of 1998 as a residential shelter that provides services and support to battered women. Upon Cady’s retirement may of 20201, the board of directors appointed Sarita Drake to lead as Executive Director.
Sarita Drake, started her job overseeing the ministry in June of 2021. She comes with personal experience, as she was a victim of domestic violence herself for 30 years. Six years ago, Sarita and her daughters left a home of domestic violence and moved into the House of Grace Shelter. Her story is typical of many stories that women might share.
It was a pivotal point in Sarita’s journey, when she heard God’s voice speak to her saying, “You have to leave now and never return! If you don’t leave now your girls will never heal.” She gathered all of her important papers, and brought them with her as she left her home, and moved into the shelter. In the meantime, she began studying to regain the nursing license she let lapse trying to protect her family at home. This led to Sarita working for a Hospice company, and eventually, to become the Lead Instructor in the Healthcare Assistant/Phlebotomy program at Northwest Mississippi Community College- Desoto.
Sarita spent four years on the board of the House of Grace. When she was voted in as Executive Director, she graciously assumed the role leading the House of Grace which includes the administrative office, a warehouse, a thrift store, and a residential shelter. Sarita said “I know that God used the House of Grace to rescue me and my children.” God will continue to use the House of Grace to impact the lives of other domestic violence victims.
Hose of Grace Crisis Hotline – 662-342-1432 or 1-877-393-SAFE (7233)
Contact the House of Grace:
Mailing: P.O. Box 272, Southaven, MS 38671
Office: 8535 US-51 A, Southaven, MS 38671, US