“You have to be able to look someone in the eye and say ‘Are you thinking about killing yourself?'”
It is not easy to ask the tough questions when you suspect someone you know is considering bringing their own life to an end. “You have to be able to look someone in the eye and say ‘Are you thinking about killing yourself?'” Jill York said.
Among the organizers and supporters of this Sunday afternoon’s Carter County Suicide Prevention Walk at Carter Caves State Resort Park, York has been working to help curb and reverse local trends since 2015, when a chance encounter with a law enforcement officer brought her attention to a disturbing local trend.
“I ran into Sheriff Jeff May and he looked bad,” she said, explaining May had just come from investigating the year’s 8th suicide. Working with Clinical Psychologist Melinda Moore, a local initiative was formed to combat the issue with public outreach and education.
Initial training taught participants to practice “Q-P-R,” York said. “Question, persuade and refer,” she explained. “You have to be able to look someone in the eye and say ‘Are you thinking about killing yourself?'”
York said her own personal connection to suicide came when classmates from Transylvania University began calling to tell her what happened to one of their college friends.
“He was brilliant and talented and had a personality that would light up a room,” she said, recalling her own shock, and then questions with no answers, regarding his suicide.
“I think there aren’t many people who do not know someone like this who has ended their life.”
“There is no one factor. There end up being a half dozen factors,” she said, speaking of the situations and issues which can lead someone to suicidal thoughts.
“It can be a broken heart … isolation. And it all leads to the biggie – hopelessness.”
Participants in Sunday’s walk at Carter Caves will find resources “to help start conversations and ask hard questions,” she said, although the event will be intentionally upbeat.
“It will be a fun walk. It will be contemplative, but mostly it is supportive. It is looking a scary beast in the eye and helping others be here tomorrow,” York said, smiling as she concluded “It will not be weeping and wailing.”
For more information, visit the Carter County Suicide Prevention Walk page on Facebook.