Suicide Intervention Certification Course

Welcome

I am Dr. Jane Simington. I am an educator, author, and therapist, specializing in grief and trauma healing. I designed the Suicide Intervention Certification Course, offered through Taking Flight International Corporation. It is developed from my personal experiences of grief and trauma, my education in both Nursing and Psychology, and my years of professional experience supporting grieving and traumatized individuals of both genders, of all ages, and of various traditions and cultures, including those from Indigenous cultures. Many had suicidal thoughts and behaviors resulting from their unhealed wounds of grief and trauma. Some had a history of cutting themselves, attempting to release Endorphins and gain a sense of euphoria, in hopes of achieving an emotional release. Many too, reported a history of substance abuse, used to numb the emotional and soul pain they experienced. When these attempts failed to provide the intended outcomes, some saw death as the only way out of their constant misery.

Healing Approach

Worldwide, suicide ranks among the three leading causes of death for adolescents and young adults.¹Nearly 90% of all suicides are associated with a diagnosable mental health or substance abuse disorder.²The unbearable feelings of despair, hopelessness and powerlessness, resulting from mental illness, trauma, significant grief, or abandonment can, despite the best efforts of loved ones and professionals, cause nearly one million people globally, to attempt suicide each year.³The feelings of loss experienced by professionals and loved ones are magnified when the death they grieve is by suicide. Those whose grief results from a suicidal death are at high-risk for developing a major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal behaviors, and prolonged and complicated grief.⁴

The symptoms of both grief and post-traumatic stress have physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual effects. In the Suicide Intervention Certification Course, I offer knowledge of the immediate and long-term effects of grief and post-traumatic stress, that can lead to suicide, and provide interventions to support the healing of these effects.

Since 2000, I have used and evaluated a model for healing, that is based on up-to-date grief and trauma theory and research.⁵ In my work with survivors of childhood and sexual abuse ( a leading cause of suicide), and with traumatized and suicidal women in a federal prison, I recognized the effectiveness of the consistent application of the Four Part Model for Healing Trauma© to gain the attention of both the brain’s hemispheres, to heal the memories and emotions stored in the body, mind, and spirit.

References

1) Young I T., Iglewicz, A., Glorioso, D., Lanouette, N., et.al. (2012). Suicide, Bereavement and Complicated Grief. Clinical Research, LLS SAS. dialogues-cns.org

2) American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Surviving a Suicide Loss: A Resource and Healing Guide. Available at http://www.afsp.org Assessed, 2016-08-01.

3) Ibid Young, et al.

4) Hawton, K., van Heeringen, K. (2009). Lancet, 18,373:1372-1381.

5) Simington, J. (2019). Evaluating Trauma Education Designed Within a Spiritual Framework

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167819846728

A Different Approach to Healing

Recognizing that the depression leading to suicide is often rooted in spiritual distress and feelings of spiritual disconnection, I designed this course to addresses first the spiritual distress being experienced, and incorporate measures to heal the spiritual disconnection being felt by those who are suicidal.

Within the context of this course, spirituality is described as a human being’s personal relationship to what is meaningful to him or her, and what gives direction and purpose to their life. The spiritual needs as identified by Carson and co-authors in Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice are: love, trust, hope, forgiveness, belonging, and meaning and purpose in life. According to these authors and other researchers, all people are considered to have a spiritual dimension, regardless of if, or how, it is expressed or practiced. Spiritual distress is the suffering experienced when one or more of the spiritual needs are not met, as frequently happens during times of personal crisis.

To address the spiritual distress of those who are suicidal, course participants are introduced to the work of Carl Jung who noted that if you want to address soul, you must speak soul’s language, the language of symbol and metaphor. Supported by his work and by research that demonstrates that during trauma, emotions are processed in the brain’s Right Hemisphere, course participants learn to incorporate dream, energy, nature work, therapeutic art, and guided visualization, as spiritual interventions, and learn to help their clients interpret the symbolic messages being revealed.

My clinical experiences and the reports from traumatized clients indicate that when the spiritual wounds are healed, it is so much easier to then address and heal the mental, emotional, social, and physical manifestations of their depression, their grief, and their trauma.

Article

To Prevent Suicide: Heal Post Traumatic Soul Disorder

by Jane A. Simington, PhD.
Taking Flight International Corporation

Since focusing on the causes, should always be the first step in any discussion about prevention, the relationship between suicide and trauma must be recognized. In light of this relationship, prevention strategies for suicide must be aimed at preventing traumas (such as is caused by childhood abuse and domestic violence), and when trauma does happen, the focus of suicide prevention must be on healing the effects of trauma on the body, mind, emotions and soul.

While many traumatized people experience most or all of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), there is more to PTSD than is usually discussed. I have worked as a trauma specialists since 1999 and now recognize that trauma can wound the soul. Many of the more than 4000 people I have helped heal from the effects of trauma have described how excruciating their soul pain and spiritual disconnection is. Most indicate that the soul pain is the most acute aspect of their suffering.