‘Picture you tied to suicide’

By LAURA STRICKER, THE SUDBURY STAR

"I would never picture you tied to suicide."

That’s what Scott Chisholm — a firefighter, photographer and former paramedic — often hears when he tells people about his dad’s suicide.

So he’s trying to change that image.

In 2009, he started the Collateral Damage project. The goal of the project is to get rid of the stigma by taking pictures of people who have lost loved ones to suicide, to eventually be published in a book. Gold medal Olympian and Sudburian Alex Baumann is involved in the project. His brother, Roman Baumann, died by suicide in 1980.

"I heard (‘picture you tied to suicide’) probably three or four times over the years," Chisholm said. "I got thinking, especially as a photographer, what is the picture? I started looking around and all I could find was pages and pages of text and no real images of those potentially left behind."

Chisholm, who lives in Thunder Bay, was 17 when his father took his own life. Thirty years later, he remembers that day distinctly.

"I was on a basketball field trip three hours out of town, and it was my basketball coach and phys-ed teacher who was given the task of telling me and my brother," he said.

"I remember I was completely drained. Every emotion was taken away from me … everything was gone. There was just emptiness."

The fact is, suicide can affect just about anyone. The young and old, men and women, mothers and daughters, husbands and brothers. But it’s something most people are afraid to discuss.

"In terms of talking about suicide and talking about suicidal feelings, absolutely there’s a lot of stigma," Betty Ann McPherson, a Sudbury-based psychotherapist with a background in traumatic loss, said.

"People get really afraid when people start to talk about suicide and have a tendency to shut them down, when what we really need to be doing is opening them up, giving them permission to talk about it. The more people will talk about suicidal feelings, the less chance they’ll actually follow through."

Chisholm and his family were living in Marathon, Ont., which 2,400 people called home when his dad died by suicide. With the exception of a very small group, most tried to sweep what happened under the carpet.

"I always say that out of caring too much, they did nothing. They had no tools whatsoever. They had no training. They didn’t know how to talk about it. My classmates were not talked to about it. People just didn’t want to talk about it.

"By not having or inviting that conversation, I felt that a brick wall was put up — and not just put up, but leaned over me so that there was no chance I could get out and talk about it."

Many of those left behind come from Sudbury, according to Statistics Canada. The October 2011 Health Profile for Sudbury shows a suicide rate of 11.7 per 100,000 people, among the highest in the province.

The suicide rate was higher for men — 18.4 per 100,000 people — than it was for women, at 5.4 per 100,000. However, more women than men were hospitalized for self-injury, at 138 and 80 per 100,000 people, respectively.

Some of the risk factors for suicide, McPherson said, are gender, age and mental illness.

"Men are at higher risk of completing suicide than women," she said. "Women attempt suicide three times more often than men (but) men use more lethal means … Men who are middle-aged are at higher risk. Men who have experienced a loss or a divorce are at higher risk. People who have had a previous suicide attempt are at higher risk.

"People who are experiencing a severe mental illness — people with schizophrenia, people who are bipolar — are at higher risk for suicide. People who have experienced any kind of loss in their life are at higher risk for suicide.

"Another thing that people aren’t aware of," McPherson added, "is the elderly are at very high risk for suicide. There’s many reasons for that. Health issues puts someone at higher risk for suicide, and people who have very little family support."

As for why the rate skews higher in Sudbury and Northern Ontario, McPherson surmised that lifestyle and demographics have a lot to do with it.

"There’s a lot of substance abuse up here, that adds to the risk factors. There’s lots of isolation, too. Access to guns also," she said. "Most people have guns up here.

"In terms of our population, we have a higher number of aboriginal people, and we know that in the aboriginal population, it’s epidemic. It’s absolutely horrendous what’s happening in the First Nations population in terms of suicide."

Despite statistics showing Sudbury’s high rate of suicide, Thomas Smith, the clinical manager of Health Sciences North’s Crisis Intervention program, said the rate is actually going down.

"We have police stats and stats from our own (information) that show the rate of suicide is declining in the Sudbury area," he said. "It’s declined from 2007 to 2011. It’s a significant drop, at least a 50% reduction in suicide in those four to five years."

The Crisis Intervention program provides assessment and intervention services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for people living with mental illness, as well as those experiencing distressing feelings, thoughts or relationship problems. Last year, 7,190 contacts were made with the program.

"I think when people are in a crisis and have had suicidal thoughts, there is a stigma that they don’t want to admit they’re powerless over their own thoughts," said Smith. "It’s a stigma that’s sort of within their own mind, however.

"I think it’s a whole lot easier to come here and not feel stigma if you do start talking to one of our clinicians."

SHINING A LIGHT

What’s important, Chisholm said, is getting people comfortable talking about suicide, something he’s trying to achieve with Collateral Damage.

"I think the word suicide itself is definitely stigmatized, and it’s the hardest word to say. You say suicide in a Tim Hortons or Starbucks, and watch the people around you — it’s uncomfortable, it’s difficult.

"When I use the phrase died by suicide, other people become engaged in the conversation. They’ll talk about how their mother died by cancer or died in a car accident, but as soon as I say committed, unless somebody’s had a parent or a family member murdered or been through suicide, those are the only people that we can talk to."

When he started the Collateral Damage project nearly three years ago, he had intended for it to be mostly local. But as soon as word got out about the project, Chisholm started getting responses from across the world, which surprised him.

"It seemed like people were just waiting for the invite. That I didn’t realize, that all people needed was an invitation (to talk).

"The number one thing is I wanted to create a dialogue on suicide to get rid of the stigma through the images. I want people to know that they’re not alone, that it can be prevented and there’s something we can do with this."

The best thing — the only thing — to do if a friend or loved one may be suicidal is, first, to talk to them, and then let someone else know, said McPherson.

"If you suspect someone is suicidal, never keep that secret. If you’re ever in doubt and you think someone is at risk for imminent suicide, you get them to the hospital or you call 911.

She also encouraged people feeling suicidal to share their feelings with someone else.

"Don’t ever carry that (feeling) alone. No one should ever carry that in secret. If some-one’s feeling suicidal, they need to share that with other people.

"I have met people throughout the years who have made a serious suicide attempt, and thankfully have survived. Most of those people are very thankful they had a second chance at life.

"We want to make sure people have lots of chances at getting through really tough times. The best way we can do that is provide them with lots of support and lots of love."

[email protected] Twitter: @LauraStricker