Suicidal Thoughts & Deep Suffering:How to Help
April 17, 2023
Hosted by Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Guest Information
Episode Description
Dr. Jamie Gamboa and Brian Stefan, MSW, of Spotlight on Suicide (SOS) return to discuss the Suicidal Ideation Toolbox (SIT), which contains accessible skills for helping professionals and everyone who experiences deep suffering and suicidal thoughts. Everyone experiences thoughts of suicide (whether they be passing and/or passive thoughts or more active thoughts) at some point in our lives, but many of us are not equipped with the tools to handle it. That's not your fault! People have been afraid to even say the word "suicide" for a long time. But times are changing! SIT skills are intended to increase resilience by fostering connection— with ourselves, our bodies, our communities, and our values— at times when we feel most disconnected. Just like the toolbox you may have in your homes, the SIT toolbox contains tools for a variety of needs. Sometimes you need a skill for an immediate crisis, while other times, you might have a more persistent relationship with suicidal thoughts and need support in coexisting with them. Sometimes you might need to tell the story of why you want to die by suicide with a caring, nonjudgemental person. Other times you may need support in reconnecting with your resilience so you can stay warm and dry, even when wandering in the wilderness.
Resiliency Within
Monday at 1 PM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel
Elaine Miller-Karas will amplify the message of hope, healing and resiliency she has learned from our world community as she has traversed the globe after human made and natural disasters. Hope often springs forth in response to suffering and trauma. Our beliefs and our wellbeing are being challenged during these unprecedented times.
The program Resiliency Within is about cultivating individual and community resiliency. Resiliency is the capacity to lean into our strengths with compassion during the most challenging of times and to remember "what else is true?" about our lived experience.
Her guests are inspiring global leaders actively promoting healing and resiliency from a variety of backgrounds. The goal is to spread wellbeing and give individual and community examples to inspire how wellness skills, including ones based upon neuroscience and the biology of the human nervous system, can be integrated into one's life, family and community during challenging times.
Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW
Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW, has been called an "ambassador of hope" and a "resilience guru." She is an author, advocate, a social worker, a trauma therapist, a co-founder of an international organization, the Trauma Resource Institute and key developer of the Community and Trauma Resiliency Models.
She is the author of “Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models(r)” (2015). She is committed to bringing accessible and affordable interventions based on neuroscience and the biology of the human nervous system to our world's community. Her models have been introduced to over 102 countries.
Elaine is a recognized international speaker and has presented at the Skoll World Forum at Oxford University and the United Nations. Her book was selected by the United Nations curated on-line library as one of the innovations that can help meet its Sustainable Development Goals.
Elaine feels passionately about the impact of climate change on our world community. She is a founding member of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition, an organization focused on the impact of climate change on mental health. She is dedicated to the world's children and she has worked with collaborators to develop interventions for children, parents and teachers to help reduce the impact of trauma. Consequently, she is a Senior Consultant to Emory University’s SEE Learning program, inspired and launched by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2019.
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