Mental Health Advocate Talks About The Stigma Around Suicide

Posted by: Michael Brown in Community News, Santa Clarita Latest News March 25, 2019 - 2:09 pm 0 635 Views

A nationally recognized mental health advocate took a few minutes to talk to KHTS about the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide.

Tim Harrington is no stranger to mental health, having lost 16 friends to suicide.

“I never thought I would have a statistic of myself personally knowing 16 people who have died by suicide,” Harrington said.

Harrington was specific to say “died by suicide,” and not that they, “killed themselves.” To him, the use of language is important when handling the stigma of suicide.

“Part of the way we deal with stigma is changing our language in the way that we talk about things,” Harrington said. “Certain ways that we talk about addiction or mental illness are stigmatizing, and stigma is the number one reason why people do not reach out for help. So by being very intentional in particular about our language, that’s part of how we change this whole process.”

Conversations regarding suicide and mental illness have become increasingly prevalent on the national stage. Since 2008, suicide has ranked as the 10th leading cause of death for all ages in the United States, and nearly 45,000 lives were lost to suicide in 2016 alone, according to officials.

In 2016, suicide became the fourth leading cause of death for those between the ages of 35 to 54 after cancer, heart disease and accidents, according to a CDC report. According to data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately one in 25 adults in the U.S. in a given year experience mental illness that interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

“We live in a society that is not tending to the garden,” Harrington said. “So in other words, let’s not complain about the lettuce. Let’s think about where the lettuce is coming from, what does it grow from and what it grows from is the soil. It’s our community.”

Teenage suicide has also become a large area for discussion. Suicide became the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 34 in 2016. And on Saturday, a second survivor of the 2018 Parkland Shooting took their own life.

Data provided by the CDC.

“There’s an incredible correlation between life experience and trauma,” Harrington said. “The idea is, ‘What is your relationship to whatever experience you’ve had in your life and are you talking about it?’ Because if you don’t talk about it, it’s suppression or depression. You push it down and at some point something’s got to give because the more you resist, the more it persists.”

Harrington encourages anyone who may be having suicidal thoughts to realize that there is a way to continue on living.

“There’s part of you that you do not want around anymore and that’s just part of you, you don’t have to take the whole to get rid of the part,” Harrington said. “I understand what it feels like to think that I have to take the whole, that I can’t be particular and I can’t pinpoint that pain point in me. But I can address that and stay here on this planet.”

Harrington appeared on The Way Out Recovery Hour with Bob Sharitts on KHTS, and the full interview will be available later this week.

Anyone seeking information about mental health resources available in the Santa Clarita Valley can click here for a list of resources. There are 24-hour phone numbers available. In the event of an emergency, 911 should always be the first call. Those looking to speak with someone can call: