My brother died by suicide. We didn’t talk about it. It’s time for that to change | Opinion

My brother, Bradley Jay Williamson, died by suicide in 1986 at the age of 31. We talked about his death only in whispers, if at all.

Neither our sister nor I saw it coming, at least not until we had the benefit of hindsight. Grief? Private. Dark. A family’s misery.

More than once I argued with then Herald Publisher Jack Briggs about the newspaper’s practice of reporting on suicides. His take was that it was better to talk about suicide openly. Now, in the fullness of time, I can say that I had it wrong. Jack was right. (There, I said it.)

There is abundant evidence that the best way to reduce death by suicide is to talk about it openly. If you think someone is contemplating self-harm, chances are that person has thought about it long before you did and asking them will not put the idea in their head.

September is National Suicide Awareness Month. The Columbia Basin Badger Club will present a special hourlong online forum, Suicide: There is Hope, on Thursday, Sept. 7 at noon. Three local experts will share their knowledge and experience working with people of all ages and stages to address the causes of suicide and strategies to prevent it:

• Cameron Fordmeir, currently the regional administrator for the Recovery Navigator Program and Assisted Outpatient Treatment with Greater Columbia Health. He chairs the Benton Franklin Youth Suicide Prevention Coalition (YSPC) and serves as a board member for the 509 Recovery Coalition. YSPC members include school counselors like Chandra Markel of River’s Edge High School, who coordinated the student suicide prevention event Taking Steps Against Suicide last September, when several hundred students marched from Fran Rish Stadium to the HAPO stage in John Dam Plaza to talk about suicide.

• Kristi Sharpe, who found her passion working in youth substance use prevention 15 years ago while serving on a coalition at her son’s high school. While her initial motivation was to learn how to prevent her own kids from using drugs and alcohol, she quickly found that helping families navigate adolescence was extremely rewarding. She became a certified prevention professional in May 2015 and has been serving Kennewick as community coordinator for the KEY Connection coalition since December 2018. An important role in prevention is mental health promotion, which suits her well as a natural-born encourager and a lifelong lover of all things self-help. She is a certified trainer of Resilience in Action and H.O.P.E. (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).

• Our third speaker will be Courtney Armstrong, Kadlec Medical Center’s supervisor of community services and volunteer chair of the community’s Behavioral Health Committee. She teaches a variety of mental health courses, including QPR Suicide Prevention and Mental Health First Aid. Armstrong says she wants everyone to know the warning signs, what to look for if someone is struggling, and how to have those conversations to get help for someone and know the resources available to help.

The Badger Club’s open-mic “Table Talk” program will follow the forum. This session of Table Talk will use breakout rooms hosted by mental health professionals from throughout the community, who will answer questions and offer suggestions about resources available.

You can register for this event at columbiabasinbadgers.com to receive a confirmation and links to join the Zoom forum and Table Talk. Cost is $5 for nonmembers, while club members can join for free.

This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 5:00 AM.