For HR representatives, supervisors, and managers, the prospect of a colleague or employee contemplating suicide can be overwhelming. Questions about roles, boundaries, and appropriate intervention methods often arise. How do you assess if someone is at risk? What’s the best way to intervene if a risk is detected?

This blog offers a guide to recognizing warning signs, providing prevention tips, and offering postvention strategies in the unfortunate event of a workplace suicide. It also shares ways to support those who may have lost a colleague to suicide.

Warning Signs

Recognizing the warning signs of suicide is key to preventing a tragedy. Some common indicators include:

1. Talking or writing about death: Statements like “I wish I were dead” or “The world would be better off without me” are red flags.
2. Seeking access to weapons or pills: Someone may actively seek out dangerous means if they are considering suicide.
3. Putting affairs in order: Making a will, or tying up loose ends, might signal they are preparing to leave for good.
4. Appearing down, depressed, or hopeless: A noticeable decline in mood is often a sign of suicidal thoughts.
5. Isolation: A person who begins to withdraw from social situations, work, or interactions with others may be suffering from major depression.
6. Engaging in risky behavior: Increased use of alcohol or drugs, reckless driving, and other unsafe behaviors could indicate they’ve given up on life.

Assessing Risk

If you notice these behaviors, it’s important to assess the individual’s risk by considering the following factors:

1. Biopsychosocial factors: A history of trauma, substance abuse, mental health issues, or previous suicide attempts can increase risk.
2. Sociocultural factors: Being part of a marginalized group or facing barriers to mental healthcare can lead to feelings of isolation and despair.
3. Environmental factors: Recent life changes, such as a job loss or the death of a loved one, can trigger suicidal thoughts.
4. Plan, intent, or means: If someone has a specific plan to harm themselves and the means to do it, their risk level is high.

If you believe someone is in immediate danger, get them professional help, call 911, or take them to the nearest emergency room.

Prevention Tips

Long-term suicide prevention in the workplace involves creating an environment that supports mental health and reduces stigma. Here are some strategies:

1. Make help accessible: Post suicide prevention hotline numbers in common areas like lunchrooms and bathrooms.
2. Raise awareness: Ensure employees know about your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and that it’s confidential. Display EAP flyers and provide resources on community mental health services.
3. Educate employees: Offer trainings on mental health topics such as suicide, stress management, and substance abuse to destigmatize these issues.
4. Create a balanced work environment**: Offer mental health days or the option to work from home. Address conflicts quickly to maintain a supportive environment.

Postvention Tips

If your workplace has experienced a suicide, the loss can be shocking and traumatic. Here’s how to support your employees:

1. Acknowledge emotions: Give employees the space and opportunities to express their feelings.
2. Watch for PTSD symptoms: A drastic change in behavior may indicate that someone is struggling with the incident.
3. Support healthy grieving: Educate employees about the stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Keep in mind that everyone grieves differently.
4. Listen empathetically: Let employees know that it’s okay to talk openly about their feelings. Be available and approachable.
5. Model healthy grieving: Be open about your feelings regarding suicide, setting an example for others.

By understanding the warning signs, implementing prevention strategies, and offering compassionate support, you can help create a safer, more supportive workplace. Early recognition and intervention can lead to positive outcomes. Simply asking, “How are you doing?” could make a world of difference in someone’s life.

Important resources

At MINES, we strive to be a valuable resource for employees who may be facing mental health challenges or suicidal thoughts. Our licensed therapists offer free and confidential counseling 24/7 for our EAP members.

In addition to your EAP, there are numerous other resources available to support individuals who may be considering suicide. You are not alone, and these resources can provide the help you need:

• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988): Dial 988 for free, confidential support from trained crisis counselors, available 24/7 across the U.S.
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to speak with someone who can provide immediate help.
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor via text, available 24/7.
• The Trevor Project: A lifeline specifically for LGBTQ+ youth. Call 1-866-488-7386, text START to 678678, or visit their website for chat support.
• Veterans Crisis Line: Veterans and their loved ones can dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255, for specialized support.
• NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline: Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) for information, support, and referrals for those facing mental health challenges.
• SAMHSA National Helpline: For those seeking treatment options, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) to access a confidential, free, 24/7 helpline that provides information and referrals to local services.
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Visit their website for resources on understanding and preventing suicide, as well as support for those affected by it.

These resources are here to offer support and guidance, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you or someone you know is struggling. Remember, help is always available, and it’s okay to ask for it.

To Your Wellbeing,

The MINES Team

The post Suicide Prevention in the Workplace appeared first on MINES and Associates.

May 9th is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. To commemorate this important holiday, we’ve gathered 7 tips on how to start a conversation about mental health with your child – including language you can borrow and analogies you can use.

Focus on emotions

It can be helpful to open these conversations by talking about emotions. Even if your child doesn’t yet understand mental health, they do understand emotions. Their emotional vocabulary will typically depend on their developmental level. As they grow, children can understand more and more complex emotions; what they understood simply as “sadness” when they were younger can expand into “grief,” “disappointment,” “brokenheartedness,” and more.

You can describe common mental health problems using emotions that your child understands. For example, you could explain, “Depression is when someone feels very sad and lonely, and that feeling doesn’t go away for a long time.” or, “People with anxiety feel scared and nervous, even when there’s nothing truly dangerous to be afraid of.”

Make analogies to physical health

Even when children have never heard of mental health, they tend to understand the concept of physical health; they’ve seen their pediatrician, gotten their vaccines, and probably experienced at least minor physical illnesses like the common cold. You can use this in an analogy to help younger children understand more about mental health.

Try saying something like,

“Do you remember when we went to see your pediatrician when you were throwing up and had a fever? Sometimes, we might go to another type of doctor because our brains and feelings are sick. We might feel really sad or really scared. Sometimes, these feelings don’t go away on their own and we need to see a doctor. These feelings doctors are called therapists or psychologists. They help people feel better in their mind, just like when your pediatrician gave you the medicine.”

Respect their boundaries

For some children, talking about mental health may be triggering or overwhelming. For example, if you or another family member lives with a mental illness, or if your child’s own mental health has been suffering, talking about these topics may bring up a lot of painful feelings. You might find that your child, especially if they’re a teenager, is reluctant to talk or share.

It’s important to respect your child’s boundaries; trying to force them to talk about it will likely only make them shut down further. Make sure you communicate your desire to understand, and let them know that you’re there to listen whenever they’re ready to.

If you are concerned about your child’s mental health and they’re refusing to talk to you about it, there are ways to express that concern. You might say something like, “I think something might be going on, and I want you to know that I’m here to listen. I know that this is hard to talk about. Only you know how you feel, but I am here to support you. I’ll never judge you for anything you tell me.”

Share your own emotional experiences

Talking about your own emotions can help normalize these conversations. This doesn’t mean that you should break boundaries and lean on your child for support while you’re going through a mental health crisis. But regularly naming your emotions can help your child understand that mental health is on a spectrum. No one is always “happy” or always “sad.”

For example, perhaps your family pet has died. If your child has been acting out or showing some signs of irritability, it could be that they don’t know how else to express their grief. You could say something like, “I miss our pet a lot. I feel really sad about it. It’s called grief, and it’s normal to feel like this when someone you love dies or goes away. How are you feeling about our pet?”

Validate their feelings

If your child does come to you with an emotion or mental health symptoms, take it seriously and provide validation. It’s easy for adults to minimize children’s concerns; they often feel trivial to us. Sometimes, we also unintentionally judge children for having strong feelings.

It’s often well-intentioned; for example, if your teenager says that they’re depressed because of something that happened with their crush, it may be tempting to want to tell them, “You won’t even care about this person in a few years. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine.” Or if they tell you they’re hurting themselves because they’re depressed, you might have the urge to say: “Why would you do this to yourself?”

But remember that, even if it doesn’t make sense to you at first, these concerns are real for them, and it’s important to help your child feel validated and supported – especially when they’ve expressed that they have been feeling bad.

You can use phrases like:

• That sounds so painful.
• This must be really hard.
• I can see that this is really important to you.
• I can see that you’re hurting.

Let them know it’s not their fault

Whether it’s your child who’s facing a mental health issue or someone else in your family, your child needs to know that it’s not their fault. Children, especially younger children, may blame themselves for a crisis, especially if they don’t understand it. Make it clear that whatever’s happening is not their fault.

If your child is experiencing mental health concerns, you can try to normalize it for them. You can say something like, “Just like people get the flu sometimes, we also get sick in other ways. You have a sickness that makes you feel really scared and nervous at school, but you’re going to get better. It’s not your fault, and we’ll get through it together. Lots of kids feel the same way.”

If someone else in your family is experiencing mental illness, you (and other important adults in your child’s life) can decide how much detail is appropriate to reveal to them. But keep in mind that hiding it altogether will likely be ineffective – your child may pick up on the fact that something is wrong. The important thing is to communicate to them that whatever is happening is not their fault.

For example, to a younger child, you might say: “Dad is going through a hard time. He has a sickness that makes him feel a lot of things, and you might notice that he looks sad sometimes. He just needs to rest, and his doctor is helping him feel better. None of this is your fault – you didn’t do anything wrong. This is just a sickness that happens to people sometimes, just like when you caught the flu.”

Open conversations, and keep them open

Finally, don’t wait to open these conversations with your child, especially if you have concerns for their mental health. Don’t wait for them to come to you. There are many reasons why people, both children and adults, find it challenging to come forward about mental health issues, including feelings of shame and a lack of understanding. You can make the process easier by opening the conversation in a safe and non-judgmental way.

In addition, keep in mind that talking about mental health one time is a good start – but it’s also important to keep these conversations open. Revisit the topic of mental health when it’s relevant. Keep checking in with your child. Answer their questions when they come up. It’s important for children to know that it’s always okay to talk about their mental health, and that you’re there to support them and help them understand.

Your employee assistance program can help

Our EAP offers 24/7 confidential counseling, as well as parent coaching, for our members. If you or your child are experiencing mental health issues, or if you simply need someone to talk to about these topics, get in touch with us or check out your digital services. We’re here to support you and your family.

To Your Wellbeing,

The MINES Team

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Everyone deserves access to the support they need when they need it – and that includes mental health support. And not everyone has MINES as their EAP, or access to an EAP at all for that matter. That’s why this year, starting on July 16, 2022, anyone facing a mental health crisis can call 988 and get connected to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (also called the Lifeline).

The line will be staffed with trained crisis counselors who know what callers are going through and know what local resources might make a difference. The phone line is staffed 24/7, and is free and confidential.

When someone is facing a mental health concern or living with a mental health condition, it’s really common to feel like no one understands what you’re going through. It may be difficult to imagine that someone who picks up the phone could totally understand what you’re feeling, and even harder to imagine that recovery is possible.

The current way of doing things isn’t working. Calling 911, the de facto response in our country, is not serving people in a mental health crisis well. A police response can inflict additional trauma on someone in crisis, or worse, attempt to criminalize the person.

Unlike 911, counselors will be at the other end of the Lifeline when you dial 988. They are trained to understand exactly how you’re feeling and to pair you with resources that are specifically tailored to helping you meet the moment you’re in.

Having concerns about your mental health is a common experience. It’s time to make this kind of support just as common. This is why 988 is an easy, three-digit phone number to remember. This resource was created for everyone, including you: if you’re ever feeling like you need help with a mental health or substance use crisis, but not sure if you should call, starting in July, you can just dial 988. It is a direct connection to compassionate, accessible support.

It’s never too early – or too late – to seek help. In the U.S., the average amount of time between the onset of symptoms of a mental health condition or challenge and a diagnosis is 11 years. It’s never too early to get support: If you’re facing a mental health crisis for the first time, reaching out can help.

Mental health challenges and crises are widespread. This is why resources and support for people facing mental health and substance use crises must be just as widespread. Starting July 16, 2022, it will become even easier for people living with these challenges to get the help they need.

If you or someone you know needs to be connected to someone who will understand what you’re going through and how to help, they can soon call 988 to be directly connected with a trained crisis counselor at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Note: 988 will not be available to everyone until July 16, 2022. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is in crisis, and you do not have MINES as your EAP, please continue to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you do have MINES as your EAP you can reach our crisis line 24/7 at 1-800-873-7138.

To your wellbeing,

The MINES Team

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Thank you John Oliver and your staff for a significant public service on your show this week! Your commentary and excellent coverage of a major problem in substance use disorder and alcohol treatment will have an impact far beyond what the insurance and professional communities have been able to do.

MINES has patients who have gone out of network, received poor care, the payors have received outrageous bills, the patients are stuck with bills that can only result in medical bankruptcy and as you noted, people die in these disreputable facilities.  A major component that you pointed out is patient brokering. When people Google substance abuse/use treatment, the top 20-30 are facilities, mostly in Florida and California, or are patient brokers. Reputable facilities in the person’s community do not even make the list. Then the facilities sometimes even pay the airfare to fly the patient to their facility and if the patient does not meet medical necessity for that level of care, the facility turns them out on the street to find their own way back to the state/community they live in.

You mentioned addictionologists as a resource for finding reputable care. In addition, Employee Assistance Programs as well as managed behavioral health services (insurance) are knowledgeable and informed about substance use and alcohol treatment. They know which facilities and programs are in network with the insurance and which ones do a good job.

Evidence-based treatment supports the use of a continuum of care from outpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential and detox (medical and social detox). There are medications that also contribute to sobriety and health.

These are chronic illnesses/conditions that require the patients to cope with all their lives. Learning relapse prevention and adherence skills are essential.

If you decide to delve into this national problem further in a future episode, I would be happy to consult with you and your team.

The following clip may be not suitable for some work environments:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWQiXv0sn9Y]

Resource:

This is a link to a pdf of an article published by the Self Insurance Institute of America on predatory treatment facilities and managed behavioral healthcare strategies for helping the patients and the payors. http://www.minesandassociates.com/documents/Predatory_Facility_Article.pdf

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One common and inexpensive benefit that the vast majority of organizations provide to their employees is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Yes, MINES and Associates is an EAP provider, and as such we see the issues that come to the table: low morale, family conflicts, substance abuse, and financial stressors to name a few. We also hear success stories of employees completing their counseling sessions and feeling that many areas of their lives have improved – including their job! Being the HR specialist of an organization which provides EAP services, it was easy to see where the value of an EAP lies. When an employee comes to you with a problem or suspicions of a mental illness, it’s reassuring to know that as an HR specialist, you have a great resource available where you can refer employees to clinicians that are better suited to help with these sorts of problems.

In addition to an EAP, there are other ways that you can regularly support your employees. Some benefits that our employees greatly appreciate include generous time off, the ability to work remotely, and encouraged open-communication. During times of stress, employees tend to appreciate time off to deal with personal matters. Working remotely allows the employee flexibility in their work. Finally, open-communication allows employees to bring forth concerns and needs without fear of reprisal. Your employees are the greatest asset of the company – show them that you care and support them!

Daniél C. Kimlinger, MHA
Human Resources Specialist

The post Showing Support for Employees appeared first on MINES and Associates.