The Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force is opening enrollment for their next Survivors of Suicide Support Group, an 8-week support group that begins January 20th. Scott Brocato spoke with Athena Huckaby, chair of the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force, about the task force and the SOS support group.
Scott Brocato:
So for those who are not familiar with it, talk about the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force--its mission, its vision, and its goals.
Athena Huckaby:
Sure. So the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force was founded, I believe, in 2016 by then City Councilor Kasandra Gandara. It was the Mayor's Suicide Task Force, Mayor's Suicide Prevention Task Force, and then morphed into the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force. We have a fiscal agent, which is FYI, so we function under their 5013-C umbrella, nonprofit.
And the mission is that we believe that living is for everybody. And we want to have a Dona Ana County and a New Mexico where people feel supported in living their lives, essentially, right? And realize that they have resources and options and that suicide isn’t--doesn't always have to be an option.
Scott Brocato:
And you've been with them for how long?
Athena Huckaby:
I moved here in 2017 and started working with them around the recovery celebration that they do every year. And yes, I mean, I've been working with them on and off since then and I'm currently the chair.
Scott Brocato:
Let's talk about the Survivors of Suicide Support Group. There's open enrollment now for the January group. Is this the first group or has this been ongoing for awhile?
Athena Huckaby:
So we've had three groups so far, threecohorts. We had a training around this. We brought a trainer out from the Star Center in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago that trained a group of about 50 people. The idea with the support group is that it's a peer-led support group, so that somebody who gone through the eight-week group can then facilitate a future group. But since we've never had groups here before, we brought a trainer out to get us started, and we've done three groups so far. So this will be our fourth.
Scott Brocato:
And it goes on for eight weeks?
Athena Huckaby:
It's an eight-week closed group, exactly.
Scott Brocato:
And what happens in an SOS meeting?
Athena Huckaby:
So there's a little bit of a curriculum. One of the big things that people do is actually talk about their loved one, bring a picture of their loved one, discuss their life, what they meant to them, what they were like, what their personality was like, the things that they liked, and sort of bring that person that they've lost forward within the group so that person can be remembered and honored. So usually the first two sessions are just that: individuals talking about the person that they lost and the real-world impacts of that loss.
And then I would say probably the next two sessions also focus on the loss and coping with the loss. And then the four sessions toward the end focus more on life moving forward. For example, thinking about things like...we all have traditions, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, celebrations. What do those look like without this person in our life? And how might we be able to move forward in celebrating even with that loss present, or how could we bring that loss into the present so that it's honored? So it’s sort of thinking about how to cope with life moving forward.
Scott Brocato:
What happens after completing the program?
Athena Huckaby:
I think people have a lot of options. So after the program, hopefully it has helped you to integrate somewhat the loss of the loved one, and you could just move forward in your life from there. But also, we have monthly drop-in groups for people that have been through one of the eight-week groups. So it's not just open to the public, but it's open to any individual that's completed a group. So we have those monthly. We provide a dinner, we have some sort of prompt questions, we kind of talk about what's going on for people now. And so people can drop in and out of that group as they like, as they need support, more or less support. Or they can also become a peer facilitator themselves and facilitate a future group.
Scott Brocato:
And what sort of emotions during the program come out? Grief, obviously...
Athena Huckaby:
Yeah, absolutely. I thought it was a very interesting, somebody that we had a conversation with recently, those of us that work on planning the groups, about someone who had come forward stating that they were very angry at their loved one. A lot of people are very angry at their loved one for choosing--in their view--choosing suicide and sort of getting out that way. So there's a lot of emotions, I think, that might be unexpected--not just grief and love and loss, but also anger and hate and fear. And, I think the full gamut, really, of human emotions that need to be discussed and processed.
Scott Brocato:
Locally, are there certain demographics, age or gender, that have higher rates of suicide?
Athena Huckaby:
That's a great question. I always want Shara Thorpe, my vice chair, to be with me when the statistic questions come up, because she knows those back and forth.
Something that I think that all of us are really concerned with is the youth in our community that we have lost to suicide in recent years, and looking for ways that we can support those youth and support loved ones of youth. So I would want to bring the focus there. But New Mexico has one of the highest suicide rates per capita in the nation, so it's a very important topic for all New Mexicans.
Scott Brocato:
Where can people sign up for the upcoming Survivors of Suicide Support Group?
Athena Huckaby:
So I would direct people to our website, which is if you Google “Las Cruces Suicide Prevention,” it should come up. I think it's lcsuicideprevention.com. They can also go to our Facebook page. There's information there. There's an ad in Stroll Magazine this month as well, Stroll Sonoma Ranch, about the SOS group. So they can e-mail or call us. There's a phone number and an e-mail there.
