Pieces

Dear friends -

It's been eleven months since Cliff died, and an enormous hole was torn out of the lives of his son, daughter, me, and many others who loved him. Since then, I have been on a quest to learn what could have made a big enough difference that Cliff's death might have been prevented, so that this information can be used to make that difference for others.

I'm going to write an update each week for the next four weeks. After that, I plan to write one every two months. Please please feel welcome to refer others who might be interested to this blog or ask them to send me a request to be added to the email distribution list.

Strategies

The areas I've been exploring fall into four categories:

• Changes at the hospital: Admission and discharge procedures, involvement of family and friends
• Support, education, and training for people living with someone with a mood disorder
• Mental health first aid and suicide intervention skills training for both mental health professionals and lay people
• Psychologically safe workplaces

In the next four weeks, I'll give updates on each of these strategies.

Strategy #1: Changes at the hospital: Admission and discharge procedures, involvement of family and friends

Ileah, Christopher and I have met twice with Cliff's doctor from Vancouver General Hospital and others who were involved in his care. As you can imagine, discussing Cliff's situation with them has been highly emotional. 

The benefit of these discussions is that the topic of patient suicide while in hospital or shortly after discharge is being explored more deeply. The psychiatric team has done a review of research in this area and of strategies other hospitals have taken to reduce this risk. It is now a standing topic at their team meetings, and the medical director for the unit has done a session on the subject for doctors in other areas of the hospital.

The doctors have also welcomed hearing our experiences and perspectives on what could have made a difference for us so that we might have been able to better support Cliff. These have included:

• Referrals for someone who has accompanied a person to hospital because of a suicide attempt
• Assessing opportunities for family involvement in patient care
• Provision of basic information to visitors taking a patient out on a pass (e.g. emergency phone numbers)
• Family involvement in discharge and transition

As the research and conversations continue, I hope to see changes in procedures that will strengthen support for people at risk.


Cliff's death left me feeling helpless and confused. As I begin writing these updates, I realize how much I have managed to learn and do this past year (too much to put in one email, I've discovered) and feel heartened by that.

Whether or not you are able to support any of these initiatives or even to read these, I appreciate your care and interest. We each have our own work to do, and varying capacities for anything more.


Lynn