Use Your Words: Exploring the Power of Narrative for World Suicide Prevention Day

TW: Mention of suicide and suicidal thinking.

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.

— Margaret Wheatley (Turning to One Another)

Established in 2003 by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is observed each year on September 10. The theme identified for 2024–2026 is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”.

Changing the narrative on suicide is about transforming how we perceive this complex issue. It’s about shifting from a culture of silence and lack of understanding to one of openness, empathy, and support. Changing the narrative on suicide aims to inspire individuals, communities, organizations, and governments to engage in open and honest discussions about suicide and suicidal behaviour. By initiating these vital conversations, we can break down barriers, raise awareness, and create better cultures of understanding and support.

Last year in Beyond the Hotline I discussed a range of approaches to suicide prevention. I explored how modern technology, community initiatives, and policy change are vital if we are to develop more holistic strategies for saving lives. This year, I want to focus on the power of language to change the narrative on suicide. Our words are important. We can employ them in various ways to influence how suicidality is perceived and talked about. We can make a difference.

What’s Wrong With the Current Narrative?

The call to change the narrative on suicide implies the existing narrative is unhealthy. What is that narrative and why does it need to be changed? In their post for WSPD 2024, the UK suicide prevention charity Papyrus identified a number of key elements in the prevailing narrative on suicide. Misleading myths and stigmas make it harder for people to reach out for help. These include labelling people who have ended their life as “selfish” or “taking the easy way out.” Other myths include the idea that suicide can’t be prevented, or that asking someone if they’re thinking about suicide will put the idea in their head. As Papyrus put it, “These myths are not true and need to be dispelled to end the stigma.” They also highlighted the fact that suicide awareness and prevention are not obligatory in the [UK] school curriculum. In their words, “It is vital our young people know how to support themselves, keep themselves safe and look after one another.”

Inconsistent reporting and representation of suicide and suicidality also needs to be challenged. Treated sensitively, TV dramas, movies, news, and other media offer valuable opportunities to educate and inform. Explicit or sensationalised treatment, however, can reinforce unhealthy stereotypes. There’s some evidence it can even lead to an increase in suicide rates. According to one recent research study, “The association between suicide reporting in the media and [rates of] suicide appears to be particularly strong following coverage of a celebrity suicide, especially when the suicide method used by the celebrity is reported.” These concerns were highlighted in a 2023 article in Missouri Medicine which focused on how suicide is discussed on social media. The article concludes, ”As far as the authors are aware, there are no formally vetted guidelines created for social media. Guidelines can help ground conversations and lead professionals and creators to discuss suicide safely and more easily.”

Online and offline, inappropriate language reinforces the stigma that already surrounds suicide. The clearest example is the continued use of the term “committed suicide.” This implies suicide is a crime, despite it being decriminalised in the UK in 1961. The lack of a healthy shared vocabulary is highlighted by Papyrus. “Many people are not aware of how to talk safely about suicide. Words have the power to heal, but they also have the power to harm. It is important we speak about suicide sensitively to avoid adding to the stigma and shame that surrounds it, as this can lead those who are having suicidal thoughts to not reach out for the help they need.”

What Would a Healthy Narrative on Suicide Look Like?

A healthy narrative on suicide would be characterised as confident, open, honest, informed, non-judgemental, supportive, and engaged. It would respect the thoughts, feelings, and needs of those in such pain and distress that suicide seems like a viable option. Crucially, it would be underpinned by practical, accessible, and appropriately funded medical, psychiatric, and other support services. This may seem a long way off, but we all have a role to play in moving towards that goal. We can begin by asking ourselves how we think and feel about suicide. This is our personal narrative. We all have one, whether we’ve thought about it before or not. Consider asking yourself the following questions.

What comes to mind when someone mentions suicide?

What are you feeling right now, reading this blog post?

Are you open to talking about suicide? If it’s a difficult topic for you, why is that?

If you learned that someone you know lives with suicidal thoughts, how would you respond? Would it affect your relationship with them?

What do you think when you discover a famous artist or celebrity has taken their life? Does it change how you feel about them and their artistic legacy?

This exercise isn’t about self-criticism or judgement. It’s about being honest about your thoughts, feelings, and perspective on a topic that affects more people than you may realise. As I wrote in a post for WSPD 2023, if you imagine no one you know lives with suicidal thinking, you’re almost certainly wrong.

One in five people in the UK have suicidal thoughts and one in twenty will attempt suicide. Statistics such as these can be hard to grasp, but there will be people in your life — your friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues — with direct experience of suicidal thinking. You might not know who or how many, and it’s not a comfortable realisation, but it’s the simple truth. Many of my friends have had, or still have, thoughts of suicide. Some have made attempts to end their life. Others have not. I know this because it’s not a taboo subject for us and comes up in conversation whenever it needs to.

Exploring our personal narrative on suicide is a good start, but what comes next?

How Can I Contribute to a Healthy Narrative on Suicide?

The first thing we can do is pay attention to the language we use. UK charity Samaritans publish media guidelines for reporting suicide. Equivalent media guidelines are published by Papyrus. Although written for journalists and other professionals, they’re relevant to all of us. The authors of the previously mentioned Missouri Medicine article proposed eight “key strategies to encourage people to responsibly report and discuss suicide on social media.” In brief, these are as follows.

1. Include a content notice or trigger warning
2. Limit details
3. Take care with use of images
4. Take care with the use of language
5. Don’t sensationalise
6. Don’t assume you know why someone died by suicide
7. Monitor and curate comments that other people post
8. Provide messages of hope

I recommend reading the original article for more details. These guidelines are relevant to all of us who post and comment on social media, or any other public platform. Beyond paying more attention to how we talk about suicide, what else can we do?

Consider contributing to the narrative on suicide by sharing your story. This might include your experience of suicidal feelings, your thoughts on suicidality more generally, your experience supporting someone through suicidal thinking or attempts to take their life, or as a suicide survivor. Personal testament can be transformational, whether it’s shared publically or in private conversation and discussion with those we know. This is true generally, not solely with regard to suicide and suicidality. In the words of American inspirational speaker and author Iyanla Vanzant, “It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.”

This is something I’ve found to be true in my journey as a supportive friend to people whose challenges including mental illness, past trauma and abuse, self-harm, and suicidal thinking. I’ve learned so much from them and from the shared experiences of others. Through our books and this blog I offer my experiences in return in the hope they may inform and help others. As I’ve expressed it elsewhere:

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH. WHISPER IT. SCREAM IT. LIVE IT. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MIGHT NEED TO HEAR WHAT ONLY YOU CAN SAY. THIS STUFF MATTERS. YOU MATTER.

Perhaps you have little personal experience, or don’t feel confident talking about it. You still have a role to play. Use whatever platforms you have to demonstrate that suicide is not a taboo subject. Follow mental health and suicide prevention accounts. Share other people’s words and posts that treat suicide and suicidality in healthy and positive ways. Challenge and report stigmatising, ignorant, or intolerant behaviour, online and offline.

Consider wearing badges or clothing with positive messages concerning mental health or suicide awareness. A number of organisation offer such merchandise, including Boys Get Sad Too, Live2lives, and To Wear Love On Her Arms. As I’ve written previously, wearing t-shirts is not enough on its own. It nevertheless demonstrates to those around you that you’re a safe person to approach or talk to about subjects which so often are considered taboo.

It’s important to acknowledge that not everyone feels able to share their experiences or engage openly in discussing such personal and sensitive topics. Respecting this is part of a healthy narrative too.

Talk About It If It Keeps You Here

I’ll close with a short but incredibly powerful video by Lauren Nicole Jankowski which was shared on Instagram by NSG (Never Stop Growing).

I met someone at a bar last night and he said the most profound thing I have ever heard. It hit me right in the chest. The conversation was about mental health and grief and how they go hand in hand. And I said I just feel like all my friends are annoyed with me because it’s all I talk about lately. I feel like I talk about my loss too much. And do you know what he said? He set his drink down and he looked at me and he said. “Talk about it if it keeps you here.”

I literally had goosebumps. I didn’t even know what to say back. How true and important is that statement? There’s no such thing as talking about mental health too much, talking about your struggles too much, talking about your loss and grief too much, if that is what’s keeping you here. If that is what is helping you heal. If that is what is getting you through the damn day. Talk about it. Talk about it so you stay.

Lauren captures perfectly the power of words, of talking about our pain, of sharing our story. And of holding space for others to do so, whether it’s someone we know well or someone we meet once in a bar. Make your words and spaces kind. You might give someone the hope to go on for one more day. You might just save a life.

 

Photo by Andreas Fickl on Unsplash.