I’m a social worker experiencing suicidal ideation..part 3

Another aspect of being a social worker with mental health needs and/or suicidal ideation is the safety in disclosing these thoughts and experiences to another person or professional.  There are a number of fears that a social worker can experience through this disclosure with several being a loss of their license (a topic we will cover in another post), along with loss of a job, a career and possibly their freedom.  The stigma that exists in how we talk about suicidal ideation is still alive and well.  

With clients and even our coworkers:

One way we can tell this stigma is alive is how comfortable we feel as a social worker to talk about this issue with our clients.  If we find ourselves cringing, hesitant, worried or avoidant of the topic, than that might point to some internalized stigma or bias towards the topic itself or even toward the person experiencing this very real mental health issue. When we are not able to be comfortable with discussing suicidal ideation and being willing to hear the experiences of others, it can impact not only our clients but our coworker and colleagues.  

People often understand intuitively or in a felt sense way when someone is uncomfortable with a topic or an experience.  We might provide nonverbal cues, have physical reactions or even the tone or language we use can be a clue. It could often be something as small as chasing the subject, minimizing or avoiding going in depth about their personal experience of suicidal ideation. 

Often within the midst of the discomfort, we might react in ways that are harmful to our clients and coworkers.  It is not unheard of for a clinician reacting in a strong way to someone’s statements of being suicidal to encourage a client to go inpatient as the only options, to be placed in an involuntary hold or even calling law enforcement to manage a person with suicidal ideation.  This only serves to further shame, isolate and rob the person of their agency in trying to help keep themselves safe.   

When we cannot hold space for this need, we only serve to tell the client that is not okay to disclose this information. These message only serve to isolate the person with the suicidal thoughts and this ultimately drives up their risk of completing suicide.  If the one person who is expected to be an expert cannot tolerate hearing this experience and help a person navigate their options for better safety, how do these strong reactions provide any level of safety or hope for a client that things can get better in the future. 

This can also be modeled for our coworkers too.  It is helpful to have other coworkers to discuss and process these types of experiences and we can also inadvertently avoid or minimize suicidal ideation with colleagues. We can show up as a clinician who his uncomfortable exploring this experience.  We also might encourage inpatient as the only option when others are available.  This can be problematic if we are engaging in supervision with newer clinicians because suicidal ideation can be a way a person is managing their distress and trying to understand this experience and help mitigate might be a better option than going inpatient.  If we have a coworker who is struggling, it is possible that colleague might avoid reaching out for help or seeking assistance with navigating mental health treatment.  It is important not only for our clients but our coworkers to be a safe place for them to come to for help, assistance, listening and maybe even encouragement to get additional help.  

Larger culture

Many of our beliefs are rooted in the larger community we live in as well as the larger current culture. These range from our own religious beliefs about eternal damnation, how own feelings of someone being weak/selfish for dying my suicide and our own fears of death.  This can be combined with many of us having our own family histories were a loved one died by suicide. As a clinician, it is important that we do the personal work to make sure we are clear about how these experiences and beliefs can impact us, our work and even our time in the office with a client.  As a social worker, it is important to get supervision (if you are a new therapist), consultation (as a more experienced clinician) and/or therapy for our personal issues that are outside the scope of supervision and consultation.  

When we are not aware of our beliefs, how our experiences shape us and even how the larger systems impact us, we run the risk of impacting our clients.  Many of us would not intentionally want to harm or negatively impact our clients or colleagues. We take our ethics seriously and the responsibility of our positions as social workers, therapist, clinicians and mental health professions.  When we are unaware of our traumas, we run the risk of reinforcing similar beliefs systems with our clients or shaming our clients for struggling or having their own confusing experiences. 

What more is needed:

While there is greater awareness of suicidal ideation which includes the normalization taking about suicide in the media, more organizations dedicated to creating greater awareness and even changes in language to help reduce the stigma, there is still more work that needs to be done to have change the narrative.  

To talk about experiences of suicidal ideation as normal and very important helps to normalize these very real experiences.  To talk about them as a social workers or mental health professional is even more important not just to the profession but to the larger communities where we work and live.  As social workers, we are trained to challenge systems and what better way can we do this than to speak of our own experiences.  While this does not mean we have to be open with everyone we meet, it can mean we are having the discussion with our therapist, supervision, consultant and even with those we feel safe and connected.  

As social workers, we need to confront our own bias, get support/supervision, seek out training and seek out our own mental health treatment. Many social workers experience passive suicidal thoughts, have prior attempts or are planning to end our lives through suicide.  Many of us still feel hesitant and shame in disclosure due to the potential loss of some many aspects of our professional and personal life.

Check out part 4 where I discuss the real worry about the impact of disclosure of suicidal ideation on our licenses.  If you like this post, please check out my other blog posts and subscribe so you are first to receive new blog posts!  You can also follow me on Instagram @laurieeldred_lmsw_caadc