Reaching Out
How Caring Contacts Can Prevent Suicide
[Event/Location if applicable]
© 2021 Ursula Whiteside
Caring Messages Defined
Brief, repeated, non-demanding messages of care, support and personal connection that convey a sense of kinship and hope.
- Ursula Whiteside
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be prepared to: ��
Caring What?
Many Names
Caring Contacts
Caring Messages
Caring Letters
What else?
Part 1: CBS Sunday Morning
Loneliness and Social Isolation
One-third of adults aged 45+ feel lonely�
“No one suffers pretty”
When we need help, we might be the most likely to push it away
�Part 2: CBS Sunday Morning
Caring Contacts: Non-demanding
“No expressions like ‘you really should try to resume therapy’ or ‘would you fill out this depressive scale so we can determine what your status is?”
Jerome Motto
Caring Contacts: Kinship
“Simply what one might say to a friend.”
Jerome Motto
Caring Contacts: Brief
“It has been some time since you were here at the hospital, and we hope things are going well for you. If you wish to drop us a note we would be glad to hear from you.”
Motto’s letters
Caring Contacts: Repeated
Mailed on a set schedule:
�A total of 24 letters, sent over 5 years
Caring Contacts: Repeated
“This is just a note to assure you of our continuing interest in how you are getting along.”
�“Just a note to say that we hope things are going well, as we remain interested in your well being. Drop us a line anytime you like.”�
“We realize that receiving a letter periodically expressing our interest in how things are going may seem a bit routine. However, we continue to be interested in you and how you are doing. We hope that our brief notes will be one way of expressing this.”
The Bingo Letter
“You are the most persistent son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever encountered, so you must really be sincere in your interest in me.”
Caring Contacts: Motto Results
In the first two years following hospitalization, the suicide rate of the control group was nearly twice as high as that of the contact group.
Motto, Jerome A., and Alan G. Bostrom. "A randomized controlled trial of postcrisis suicide prevention." Psychiatric services 52, no. 6 (2001): 828-833
�Part 3: CBS Sunday Morning
CBS Sunday Morning: Wrap Up
What’s one that stood out to you?
Sending Caring Messages
Preparing Caring Messages: �Let’s Practice Together
Friend
Share a memory
Self
I see your strength
Evaluate
Check Yourself
Preparing Caring Messages: Evaluation Criteria
Rate yourself: 1 = meets criteria well, 2= could use input from others, 3 = definitely not!
Also, repeated
NowMattersNow.org �Caring Message Resources
Connection
Use them for yourself, �use them for others
References