Colorado Nonprofit and International Partners Gather to Transform Approaches to Suicide and Suicide Prevention

GOLDEN, Co. – The CDC recently released provisional data indicating that the number of suicide deaths reached an all-time high of almost 50,000 in 2022. This November, over 150 suicide prevention advocates will gather in the city of Golden’s Rocky Mountain foothills to evoke transformative change and help reverse this daunting trend. They will participate in the inaugural Living Beyond Suicide Summit. A Denver-based nonprofit, United Suicide Survivors International (US), is hosting the event in partnership with Humannovations and leadership partner organizations, including Vibrant Emotional Health and PAUSE (People Addressing and Understanding Suicide Experiences).

For too long, suicide prevention has been based on fear and an over-medicalized framework that hasn’t been effective. The people who have the most knowledge of ‘what works’ are those who’ve lived through suicide, and yet these voices are often discounted. This Summit attempts to fix this gap,” said Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, US President and founder.

The Living Beyond Suicide Summit will focus on the intersections of suicide, social injustice, public health, human rights and community empowerment in the context of national transformation for crisis services driven by 988, the new national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

The Summit is about collective wisdom, changing the paradigm to support dignity and save lives at a pivotal historical moment. In shifting the conversation to crisis support, health equity and inclusion, we’re bringing unheard voices and powerful new insight to lift the burden of suicide for impacted communities everywhere,” said Eduardo Vega, CEO and founder of Humannovations and Executive Committee member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

At the Summit, a groundbreaking Blueprint for Change will be created, focusing on new approaches to suicide experiences, suicide prevention and postvention (after a suicide death), and a vision for engaging communities that have not been heard. The Blueprint is designed to follow The Way Forward, a seminal paper developed by the Suicide Attempt Survivors Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention in 2014. This pivotal document led to a significant shift in the field. For the first time, suicide prevention and behavioral health groups began engaging suicide attempt survivors and others impacted by experiences involving suicide (known as people with lived experience or expertise) as partners in developing, implementing and evaluating efforts. “The paper set the stage for centering the work of suicide prevention on the wisdom of lived expertise,” said Spencer-Thomas.

Many innovations in crisis mental health care, including the role of people with lived experience, peer support and alternative interventions like arts-based healing and faith-based recovery, gained more acceptance after the paper’s release. Requirements for lived experience co-creation of projects and research endeavors are now more commonly seen by funders. “Centering on Lived Experience” is now a tenet of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the only federally supported resource center devoted to advancing the implementation of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.

I’ve been an openly disclosed attempt survivor engaged in suicide prevention efforts since 1996. Having played a leadership role in many lived experience initiatives since then, I always look forward to collaborating with peers and colleagues. As the primary writer for The Way Forward, I’m invested in developing guidance that builds on the work of our Action Alliance Task Forces. The Lived Experience Academy is ready and willing to pursue collaborative projects that emerge from the Living Beyond Summit,” said Dr. DeQuincy Meiffren-Lézine, CEO of Prevention Communities, director of the Lived Experience Academy, and author of the revisions of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.

Milwaukee Tool is the Summit’s Platinum Presenting Sponsor. “Milwaukee Tool is grateful to sponsor this event,” said Justin Azbill, Director – National Environment, Health & Safety for the company. “We have been committed to the health and safety of our end-users since 1924, when we began our journey as a global manufacturer. At this pivotal time in history where suicide deaths are at an all-time high, we are honored to continue supporting the cause of helping to change people’s lives positively for mental wellbeing while hoping to reverse the current trend,” he continued.

Keynote speakers include empowerment-focused Corey Jones and Swil Kanim, an army veteran and Native storyteller. Jones will speak on “Healing Generations: An Individual and Systems Approach to Addressing Childhood Trauma and Preventing Suicide.” Kanim’s talk is titled “Transcend and Transform: The Role of Honoring and the Arts in Shifting the Paradigm of Suicide Prevention.”

Helping people impacted by suicide turn pain into purpose is US’s mission. This event will be a full-circle moment for us as The Way Forward was a major impetus for our organization’s founding,” said Spencer-Thomas, who became a suicide prevention expert following her brother’s death by suicide in 2004.

The Summit is November 1-2, 2023, at the American Mountaineering Center, 710 10th St, Golden, CO. Early bird registration is now available. 

For 24/7 mental health and crisis support, call or text 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org/chat/.

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