{"id":28486,"date":"2018-04-20T03:57:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T10:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28486"},"modified":"2018-04-18T15:48:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T22:48:40","slug":"s-word-changes-perceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/04\/20\/s-word-changes-perceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"S Word changes perceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Miller in a shot from the documentary The S Word<\/em>, which screened for the first time in Western Canada on March 22 in Winnipeg. (photo from MadPix, Inc.)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish Child and Family Service of Winnipeg (JCFS) partnered with the Suicide Prevention Network and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg\u2019s Young Adult Division to show the documentary The S Word<\/em> for the first time in Western Canada. The screening took place March 22 at the JCC Berney Theatre, and the event\u2019s aim was to help put a stop to the silence surrounding the subject of suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuicide is widespread and affects all age groups and communities,\u201d said Carli Rossall, JCFS addictions and mental health caseworker. \u201cThere are many \u2018S words\u2019 that reinforce the behaviour around suicide, such as silence, stigma, shame and struggle. The hope is to turn this around into S words such as support, survival, sharing and solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rossall has taken the lead in organizing this project, along with Cheryl Hirsh Katz, JCFS manager of adult services, and Shana Menkis, JCFS director of operations.<\/p>\n

JCFS is a member of the Suicide Prevention Network, which is a group of agencies and individuals committed to enhancing the mental wellness and quality of life of people in Winnipeg, preventing suicides and supporting those bereaved by suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our goal with this [event] was to begin to create a safe space within the community where topics like suicide can be freely and openly discussed,\u201d said Rossall. \u201cStaying silent doesn\u2019t make an issue cease to exist. Suicide is a reality in our community as it is in all communities. Healing requires openness, acceptance and dialogue. The more we talk about these things, the more fluency we develop when it comes to hard conversations, [and] the better equipped we all are to support one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing this film to our city and specifically to this community,\u201d Hirsh Katz added, \u201cwill hopefully give a voice to this problem and put a face to the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The S Word<\/em> aims to open the conversation surrounding suicide. Its director, Lisa Klein, is a survivor of both her father\u2019s and her brother\u2019s suicides. In the film, she wanted to show the voices of those who survived suicide attempts, as well as others, to provide an honest portrayal of the thoughts and feelings surrounding suicide. She further wanted to provide positive messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an outstanding collection of stories that, unlike other films on the same subject, shines a light on hope,\u201d said Klein. \u201cIt talks about language, relationships, relapses in mental health, and about how recovery is rarely a straight trajectory. It\u2019s very real and raw. I consider it to be one of the best mental health documentaries I\u2019ve ever seen \u2026 unique in its approach to an otherwise familiar topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear about suicide epidemics, about over- and under-medicating, about the bereaved when it comes to suicide in the community, but, rarely do we hear from survivors. Frankly, I don\u2019t know if \u2018survivor of suicide\u2019 is a concept most people even know exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Carli Rossall, Jewish Child and Family Service of Winnipeg addictions and mental health caseworker, at the information table on March 22. (photo from JCFS)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLoss is never easy to talk about,\u201d said Rossall. \u201cBut, when loss gets tied together with morality, as suicide often does, an added layer of stigma exists. Anything that challenges our definition of \u2018right,\u2019 \u2018moral\u2019 or \u2018normal\u2019 tends to make us uncomfortable \u2013 and it often makes people look to blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally,\u201d she said, \u201cpeople who have thoughts of suicide suffer from intense psychological pain, where there is a feeling of hopelessness, isolation, and no alternative. The reasons for this can vary, from those experiencing mental health challenges or physical illness, to those who have experienced trauma, are struggling financially or have addictions. The rise in suicide rates may be due to life\u2019s increasing pressures and complex circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was in her late teens that Klein lost her father and then, three months later, her brother, to suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that obviously is a huge part of my life, my existence, and it wasn\u2019t something that right away I knew what I\u2019d do with,\u201d said Klein. \u201cIt affected me greatly. I really didn\u2019t know who to talk to. That was a big part of why I did this film, because it\u2019s so difficult to talk to people when you\u2019ve lost people. They don\u2019t know what to say to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came out to L.A. and went to graduate school, I did a film prior to this one\u2026. We started to do documentaries. We did one on bipolar personalities and, when we did that one, we had someone who was in the film who had lost their daughter to suicide. I thought, OK, I\u2019ve dealt with this. And then, almost immediately, I realized that I actually hadn\u2019t. I thought it was time to do something, because people weren\u2019t, and aren\u2019t, talking about it enough, not talking about it responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Klein began researching the topic, she found a large community of people dealing with suicide \u2013 so great a number that they were holding conventions in the United States about it. Klein found this resource helpful when it came to finding specific stories to include in her film.<\/p>\n

While The S Word<\/em> is not yet widely available, Klein has worked to get the message across through teachers, mental health professionals and survivors. And she created a toolkit that is on the movie\u2019s website that anyone can access to find ways to bring the message to their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve signed with an educational distributor and eventually it will be available \u2013 probably in the late fall\u2026. We want to help open the conversation, for sure,\u201d said Klein. \u201cWe want people to feel less alone, like they\u2019re not the only ones going through this. And we want people to know that they can be there for somebody else, too. Also, to know that, if you, yourself, are struggling, there are people to talk to.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, what can really kill people, what can drive people to this is the silence or the hopeless feeling of being alone \u2013 feeling that they have nobody to talk to, and the stigma and shame keep people from talking about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this also in the rape culture and the whole #MeToo movement,\u201d she added. \u201cPeople who were so afraid to talk are now coming forward. And it\u2019s so important to be able to do this. We want to be part of that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klein invited everyone to visit the film\u2019s website \u2013 theswordmovie.com \u2013 for more information and to watch the many interviews conducted with suicide survivors that did not make it into the film (click on the \u201c#SWordStories\u201d link). She further encouraged people to send in written stories about their own experiences to the website.<\/p>\n

In Winnipeg, JCFS is ready to help anyone in need, via their active mental health services program for the Jewish community and counseling services that are open to the general public. In Vancouver, Jewish Family Services is also ready to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these supports, there are opportunities for individuals and families to address their concerns, feelings related to suicide, and other issues on a proactive basis,\u201d said JCFS\u2019s Hirsh Katz. \u201cThere are also several other community-based agencies in Winnipeg that provide both crisis and non-crisis work with suicide. The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention is a nationwide organization dedicated to offering support. Livingworks Education Inc. is a leading provider of suicide intervention training through various workshops \u2013 the training is focused on identifying, speaking and intervening with people who have thoughts of suicide, and it is invaluable for individuals ages 15 and over who want to help people be safer from suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craig Miller in a shot from the documentary The S Word, which screened for the first time in Western Canada on March 22 in Winnipeg. (photo from MadPix, Inc.) Jewish Child and Family Service of Winnipeg (JCFS) partnered with the Suicide Prevention Network and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg\u2019s Young Adult Division to show the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[8059,8061,2864,4434,8060,6562,2893,4048],"class_list":["post-28486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-swordstories","tag-carli-rossall","tag-health","tag-jcfs","tag-lisa-klein","tag-suicide","tag-survivors","tag-winnipeg"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}