Surgeon General Featured in Suicide Survivors Teleconference

Each year, more than 30,000 people in the United States die by suicide, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of survivors, including spouses, parents, children, siblings, friends and co-workers.

To help them cope, the National Association of Survivors of Suicide recently sponsored the second annual National Survivors of Suicide Conference for those who have lost friends and family members to suicide.

Twenty cities participated, with all sites joined in a panel discussion via satellite.

The program consisted of small group sessions on suicide, grief and related topics conducted locally by Dr. Alan Swann, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston . U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher gave the keynote address which addressed the national crisis of suicide and what is being done on the federal level to prevent it. The national program also featured a panel discussion titled "Healing Through Support Groups," and consisted of support group leaders from around the country discussing their experiences as survivors, and how support groups helped them through the grieving process. The panelists were:

* Bennie Smith, a Houston area survivor of suicide.

* Dr. Edward J. Dunne, president of the American Association of Suicidology and co-editor of Suicide and Its Aftermath: Understanding and Counseling the Survivors. A longtime leader and trainer of survivor support groups, Dr. Dunne is a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City and a senior faculty member of the Ackerman Institute for the Family, where he directs the clinic for gay and lesbian families. He lost his brother to suicide.

* Rev. Charles T. Rubey, director of programs for Catholic Charities in Chicago and founding director of the pioneering survivor support program, Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide. A frequent speaker and author on the role of the clergy in survivor support, Rev. Rubey has worked in suicide prevention for more than 21 years.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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