September Is Suicide Prevention Month, and Time to Talk About Ideation

I remember calling the nurse hotline — a new, stressed-out, low-resourced single mom in Denver — while driving between appointments and apartment searches. As a former midwife, I knew what I was calling for: medication for postpartum depression. I managed to request a small dose, crying, and I was met with an immediate prescription. I loved my new baby and being a mom, but I struggled with loving myself and I was facing the adversity of being a poor single mom in Denver. Since then, like many postpartum birthing parents in Colorado, I have learned to live with suicidal ideation.

Suicidal ideation is a broad term used to describe a spectrum of contemplations, wishes or preoccupations with death and suicide, and it is exhausting and extremely painful. As a society, we rarely ever acknowledge all of the work done by people who wrestle with suicidal ideation, and the invisible struggles that they grapple with daily while often excelling in their professions and taking care of their families. The stigma surrounding mental health leaves people who live with ideation covering their pain from the public and loved ones, and as a result not seeking treatment.

It kind of makes sense why we’re experiencing societal depression right now. In the large scheme, the U.S. health-care system didn’t prioritize mental health services before COVID, which put our communities in dire situations and left states to often innovate, fund and figure out how to get communities access to mental health services. Since COVID, depression, ideation and suicide have skyrocketed. The economic fallout of COVID brought a three-fold increase in depression, with loneliness and financial stress the two prime culprits. Suicidal ideation was five times higher at the beginning of the pandemic for people living in low-income households. A recent Colorado Kids report showed that kids and teens have struggled for over a decade in Colorado with mental health, and that youth who died by suicide doubled between 2010 and 2021. In May 2021, Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a state of emergency in youth mental health, noting the increased arrival in teens and youth in emergency rooms in a mental health crisis.

Families have found themselves under unprecedented levels of stress. So if you are a working parent, trying to make ends meet, It should really be no surprise if you are super-depressed. Suicidal ideation increased from 4 percent in 2017-2018 (pre-pandemic) to 16 percent after the start of the pandemic. Of those 10 million adults who had ideation,1.4 million adults (.6 percent of the adult population) had attempted suicide in the past year. Living in poverty, having some college education, being enrolled in Medicaid, being single or divorced or widowed, being between the ages of 19-39, and being post partum are all factors that amplify a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation. If you are a new mom in Colorado, suicide and intentional or unintentional overdose are the most likely ways you will die in that time period. I am glad I made that call back in 2016 as a new mom who knew the signs of severe postpartum depression.

Creating more environments that promote positive mental health should be on everyone’s minds. The World Health Organization has developed material and content on how to prevent suicide at the workplace, naming the workplace as a prime environment to implement prevention strategies; many employers are now working towards supporting mental health at work through comprehensive frameworks. There are also things we can do to destigmatize suicidal ideation so that people are not scared to seek treatment — including talking about ideation, so that those of us who live with it don’t feel even more isolated. Building thriving communities, like safe places to gather, and creating access to housing and jobs are suicide prevention strategies. On the other hand, exposure to repeated violence, displacement, camping sweeps and other traumas undermine the well-being of communities and individuals.

This isn’t to say that those of us who live with ideation don’t have filling, purposeful and vibrant lives. We may love deeply, and empathize with strangers as though we’ve known them our whole lives; we seek justice and live boldly. The ability to be so sad sometimes has a parallel: insurmountable joy. We talk about our experience in hopes that others who feel alone see that there are many of us living out loud with ideation.

You are not alone. If you are actively in crisis and need immediate support, call 911. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text 741-741 to reach a trainer counselor with Crisis Text Line.

Kayla Frawley is a single mom in Denver who runs a collective firm of working parents on a mission to increase community leadership and participation in state, non-profit services and policy design.

Westword.com frequently publishes commentaries online on weekends. Have one you’d like to submit? Send it to e[email protected], where you can also comment on this piece.

I remember calling the nurse hotline — a new, stressed-out, low-resourced single mom in Denver — while driving between appointments and apartment searches. As a former midwife, I knew what I was calling for: medication for postpartum depression. I managed to request a small dose, crying, and I was met with an immediate prescription. I loved my new baby and being a mom, but I struggled with loving myself and I was facing the adversity of being a poor single mom in Denver. Since then, like many postpartum birthing parents in Colorado, I have learned to live with suicidal ideation.

Suicidal ideation is a broad term used to describe a spectrum of contemplations, wishes or preoccupations with death and suicide, and it is exhausting and extremely painful. As a society, we rarely ever acknowledge all of the work done by people who wrestle with suicidal ideation, and the invisible struggles that they grapple with daily while often excelling in their professions and taking care of their families. The stigma surrounding mental health leaves people who live with ideation covering their pain from the public and loved ones, and as a result not seeking treatment.

It kind of makes sense why we’re experiencing societal depression right now. In the large scheme, the U.S. health-care system didn’t prioritize mental health services before COVID, which put our communities in dire situations and left states to often innovate, fund and figure out how to get communities access to mental health services. Since COVID, depression, ideation and suicide have skyrocketed. The economic fallout of COVID brought a three-fold increase in depression, with loneliness and financial stress the two prime culprits. Suicidal ideation was five times higher at the beginning of the pandemic for people living in low-income households. A recent Colorado Kids report showed that kids and teens have struggled for over a decade in Colorado with mental health, and that youth who died by suicide doubled between 2010 and 2021. In May 2021, Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a state of emergency in youth mental health, noting the increased arrival in teens and youth in emergency rooms in a mental health crisis.

Families have found themselves under unprecedented levels of stress. So if you are a working parent, trying to make ends meet, It should really be no surprise if you are super-depressed. Suicidal ideation increased from 4 percent in 2017-2018 (pre-pandemic) to 16 percent after the start of the pandemic. Of those 10 million adults who had ideation,1.4 million adults (.6 percent of the adult population) had attempted suicide in the past year. Living in poverty, having some college education, being enrolled in Medicaid, being single or divorced or widowed, being between the ages of 19-39, and being post partum are all factors that amplify a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation. If you are a new mom in Colorado, suicide and intentional or unintentional overdose are the most likely ways you will die in that time period. I am glad I made that call back in 2016 as a new mom who knew the signs of severe postpartum depression.

Creating more environments that promote positive mental health should be on everyone’s minds. The World Health Organization has developed material and content on how to prevent suicide at the workplace, naming the workplace as a prime environment to implement prevention strategies; many employers are now working towards supporting mental health at work through comprehensive frameworks. There are also things we can do to destigmatize suicidal ideation so that people are not scared to seek treatment — including talking about ideation, so that those of us who live with it don’t feel even more isolated. Building thriving communities, like safe places to gather, and creating access to housing and jobs are suicide prevention strategies. On the other hand, exposure to repeated violence, displacement, camping sweeps and other traumas undermine the well-being of communities and individuals.

This isn’t to say that those of us who live with ideation don’t have filling, purposeful and vibrant lives. We may love deeply, and empathize with strangers as though we’ve known them our whole lives; we seek justice and live boldly. The ability to be so sad sometimes has a parallel: insurmountable joy. We talk about our experience in hopes that others who feel alone see that there are many of us living out loud with ideation.

You are not alone. If you are actively in crisis and need immediate support, call 911. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text 741-741 to reach a trainer counselor with Crisis Text Line.

Kayla Frawley is a single mom in Denver who runs a collective firm of working parents on a mission to increase community leadership and participation in state, non-profit services and policy design.

Westword.com frequently publishes commentaries online on weekends. Have one you’d like to submit? Send it to e[email protected], where you can also comment on this piece.