OPINION: From the Editor: Holistic approach to suicide prevention awe-inspiring

January 27th 2:37 pm | Carey Restino    

There are times when we all find our work challenging. On Mondays, I typically get a little wide-eyed, staring at the approaching newspaper deadline and knowing that no matter what I have accomplished, I could have done more. I have resigned myself to the fact that the news world the way it is, with lots of last-minute rushing and coffee-fueled late nights. That doesn't mean I don't sometimes fantasize about working in a spa or some place equally relaxing and calm. Maybe herding goats on a hill somewhere?

This week, however, I met someone who made me embarrassed to have ever whined, even internally, about my work. I met someone whose job is so overwhelming that he aught to be hiding under his desk. Instead, this person is full of energy and enthusiasm for what he does, and I suspect he's not alone in his field.

Imagine that your job is to try to stop an epidemic that is killing young people throughout your region. It brings you nose to nose with every piece of your community and culture that is broken — every heartbreak and sad story you can imagine. And your job, simply put, is to fix it all.

Evon Peter, director of the Maniilaq Wellness Program, calls what he's doing a holistic approach to suicide prevention. Holistic is the kind of word you often hear when describing good diet combined with lots of deep breathing. But when he says "holistic", he essentially means this: to stop the suicide epidemic in rural Alaska, we have to fix the problems in the communities. Actually, we have to inspire the communities to fix their own problems. All of them.

Feeling better about your job yet?

But here's the thing — Peter is excited about what he's doing, and you can tell when he talks about it. When asked if it's a tall order to try to fix all the things that are malfunctioning in rural Alaska as well as elsewhere in the state that contribute to suicide — drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, depression, employment barriers, cultural barriers, bullying, and even the hangover of past Native cultural misdeeds and tragedies — Peter does not sigh and admit defeat. Instead, he is charging forward with an effort to try to fix it — all of it. I suspect he's not alone, that others who work with him are equally as inspiring in their undaunted nature in the face of this monumental task.

Peter, his peers and community members, and now the state of Alaska and others statewide are starting to realize, I guess, that trying to stem the suicide problem in rural Alaska is going to take a lot more than crisis resources. It is going to take real change, change that allows people and communities to heal and grow.

In the Alaska State Suicide Prevention Plan, which outlines the goals for suicide prevention for the next five years, there is a story about a man who saw someone drowning in the river. He ran out and saved the person, and felt good. But the next day, two people were in the river. He was able to save them both. More and more people started coming down the fast river each day, though, and pretty soon, the man's whole community was devoting itself to rescuing them. They built a watch tower, and organized the strongest community members to help save the people. Finally, someone suggested they go upstream and see why people were falling in the river. But many were worried that if they divided their resources, someone would die.

Crisis response to suicide in Alaska is important, but as statewide directors say, that network is pretty well developed. What hasn't been well developed is the business of trying to fix the problems that caused the suicides in the first place. Perhaps that's because it just seems so big a problem. Where does one start?

Everywhere, says Peter.

Perhaps a clue to why Peter and others working with this issue get out of bed in the morning, let alone bring an apparently positive and upbeat presence to their jobs each day, can be seen if you watch a video of the summer camps for Native youth posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdAi0TmuAhU). In this half-an-hour-long video, we see youth working together, listening, learning and most of all laughing. We see presenters pouring their life and energy and heart into this effort to connect with these young people using Native cultural connections as well as the emotional stories of those who have been through a suicide attempt. At the end of the video, we hear from the youth. They tell us they learned how to start healing. They say they found ways to open up when they couldn't before. Peter said others who attended these camps years ago remember the experience as a turning point in their lives. And while these camps might only reach a few dozen youth each year, these efforts combined with other community-wide and school peer mentoring programs are impacting people, Peter says.

It's probably going to take time, and huge amounts of effort, before what Peter and others working on this holistic suicide prevention tactic see results. In the mean time, those communities where this effort is underway might do well to take a moment to educate themselves about the programs, and recognize these amazing people leading this effort. What they are attempting to do is truly extraordinary. And all they want in return for this effort, really, is collaboration, involvement and community participation. They need the help of those they are trying to assist for this effort to work and healing to spread instead of sorrow. I challenge anyone to sit and listen to what these people have to say and not be inspired and awed by it. Let's hope the effort gets the support it needs at a state, community and individual level to succeed, because if anyone can, it's people like Peter.