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Posted: 12/17/2007

DCSPATF’s First Full-Day Conference on Suicide Prevention a Huge Success

Radnor, PA - On Thursday, November 15, 2007, over 200 attendees gathered at the Villanova Conference Center for the Fourth Annual Regional Symposium on Suicide Prevention, sponsored by the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force. The conference theme, Suicide: A Community-Wide Health Problem - Let’s Talk About it! , was chosen to highlight the number of suicides that occur in Delaware County and surrounding areas each year and to emphasize that effective suicide prevention must begin at the community level. Clearly many community members did want to talk about it at this full -day conference featuring speakers Tony Salvatore, MA, of Montgomery County Emergency Services, Fredric Hellman, MD, Delaware County’s Medical Examiner, and Michael Green, Esq., the Delaware County District Attorney. A special feature of this year’s conference was a panel discussion in which survivors of suicide loss provided moving accounts of the complicated grief that follows the suicide of loved ones. Breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon addressed suicide risk and risk assessment for specific populations including prisoners, youth, college students and those with co-occurring disorders (mental illness and substance abuse). Sessions were devoted to suicide loss and grief as well.

Welcoming the audience, David McKeighan, the Executive Director of the Delaware County Medical Society and co-chair of the Executive Board of the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force reflected on the Task Force beginnings just five years ago saying, “I don’t think any of us could have envisioned that we’d be able to coordinate an event like this”. He stressed that “our society needs to find better ways to accept and understand mental illness,” which is evident in about 90% of completed suicides, adding, “recovery from mental illness is possible and probable, especially when appropriate treatment is accessible.” Following his opening remarks, Dr. Terri Erbacher , a conference organizer and Executive Board member, presented McKeighan with an award that read: “In Grateful Appreciation of David McKeighan for Your Outstanding Commitment and Dedication to the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force, November 15, 2007”.

The audience, representing professionals in healthcare and mental health, educators, physicians, clergy, law enforcement, business, county government and many others, learned during Salvatore’s keynote address that this year 80 people in Delaware County had taken their own lives, 20 more than the same time last year. Salvatore, who has authored numerous publications on suicide prevention and suicide loss, stressed that the county must develop a strategy for suicide prevention. To significantly reduce suicide, the greatest effort must be directed at the highest risk population, specifically white males, including the elderly and veterans of war. Dr. Hellman also noted the dramatic increase in suicides in 2007 during his presentation on “Trends and Findings in Delaware County”, which focused on inhalant abuse and suicidality. The closing statement by District Attorney Green, addressed the issue of mental illness in crime and court proceedings and in the prisons. He also promised the audience that he and Dr. Hellman would be looking carefully at the 25% increase in suicides this year.

Many individuals attending the symposium praised the Task Force and presenters for the content, variety and quality of information that had been presented throughout the day as well as the location and exceptional meals. The Task Force thanks the many people who helped to make this conference a huge success. A special thanks to all the presenters including Tony Salvatore, MA, Fredric Hellman, MD,MBA, G. Michael Green, Esq., DA, Teri Himebaugh, JD, LLM, David Ramirez, PhD, ABPP, Jim Bechtal, PhD, David Moran, LCSW, Linda Falasco, LCSW, Ujwala Dixit, MD, Brent Satterly, PhD, LCSW, Terri Erbacher, PhD, David McKeighan, MaryEllen Carpenter, Gail Dohrn and Sue Kelleher.

The Task Force also thanks its sponsors; Magellan Health Services, Crozer Keystone Health System, Brooke Glenn Behavioral Hospital, Child Guidance Resource Centers, Elwyn, Inc., Life Counseling Services, Main Line Behavioral Health, Mirmont Treatment Center, Delaware County Medical Society, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Suburban Research Associates, Rose Tree Place, Citibank, Empower Youth, Horsham Clinic, Social Work PRN, and Survivors of Suicide, Inc. Their generous contributions made a conference of this caliber possible.

The Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force recognizes the following Task Force members for their effort in organizing this conference:

Terri Erbacher (Conference Committee chair)
Ellen Chung-Finnegan
David McKeighan
Nikole Heilman
Martha Hochschwender
Bob Edwards
Tony Salvatore
Sheldon Kovach
David Moran

Stacey Shapiro
Tom McGirk
Beth Mingrey
Joy Petit
Monique Sexton
Maureen Hennessey-Herman
Carol Staubach.
Rosemary McNeal (from the
Delaware County Medical Society)
.

The Task Force Executive Board
Ellen Chung-Finnegan (co-chair), David McKeighan, (co-chair), Terri Erbacher, Martha Hochschwender, Maureen Hennessey-Herman, Beth Mingrey, and Carol Staubach

● ● ● ● ● ● Related Stories ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ninth Annual National Survivors of Suicide Day
On Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007, thousands of people who have lost a loved one to suicide will gather at 100 conference cites located nationwide and internationally. The conferences will be connected via satellite through an Internet broadcast followed by an Online Chat. All local conferences will join in the broadcast from 1-2:30 p.m. EST. For individuals unable to attend a conference, the 90-minute program will be broadcast simultaneously on the AFSP website. The program will also be archived on the website for a full year afterwards.

This worldwide event is designed to offer emotional support to survivors of suicide loss and information about resources for healing. The broadcast will feature a panel of individuals who have experienced suicide loss and mental health professionals. For additional information visit www.afsp.org.

Studies: Rise in Teen Suicide; Antidepressants
Three recently published studies contribute new information concerning the rise in teen suicides and the debate on whether antidepressants put teens at greater risk for suicide

1st Study - CDC statistics show an 8 percent rise in the suicide rate for 10- to-24-year-olds in 2004. This is the largest single-year rise in 15 years.

A 2nd study led by John March, M.D., chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University, indicated that the combination of cognitive therapy and antidepressants reduced the level of suicidal thinking and behavior in adolescents.

The 3rd study, a major government-funded study led by a NARSAD Independent Investigator, Francis J. McMahon, M.D, reported that specific variations in two genes are linked to suicidal thinking that sometimes occurs in people taking the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants.

More information on all three studies can be found on the NARSAD web site at www.narsad.org.

Turquoise and purple balloons were released into the warm, summer air as the sixth annual Candle Light Vigil to remember those lost to suicide got underway on September 10, 2007 at Rose Tree Park in Media. An estimated one-hundred people gathered in the park amphitheater that evening to remember loved ones who died by suicide. Speakers shared stories and memories of family members who had taken their own lives. Some read poems or performed songs they had written, while many others told of their emotional struggle to understand why a beloved parent, son, daughter, sibling, friend or other loved one would complete suicide.
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