E13 - Christine Yu Moutier, MD: The Hard Conversation: Addressing Suicide & Preventative Mental Health

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On this episode we are joined by Christine Yu Moutier, MD, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. We address the hard conversation of suicide prevention and actionable steps we can take individually and as a community to decrease the number of deaths by suicide. Dr. Moutier shares her personal experience with suicide exposure and what inspired her to do this purposefully work at preventing it. She shares the mission of AFSP and how it has made advancements in providing more accessible mental health care to people all across the country. She guides listeners through how to have honest and effective conversations with loved ones about this topic and be a light to prevent someone from taking their life. She offers a compassionate approach to mental health, acknowledging that while not all suicide may be preventable - there is much more that we can do as a nation to tackle this tragic topic.

Though this episode is aimed at understanding and action, it may be triggering to some viewers. 

This video is intended to provide further education into suicide prevention & mental health. If you or a loved one is struggling with this, please contact the following resources for further support:

Suicide Prevention Line: 

Call "988" or visit this website: https://988lifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/

AFSP Resources: 

https://afsp.org/get-help/

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0:00 Intro 

3:09 Is Suicide Preventable?

5:48 The Mission of AFSP

8:51 Setting Up the Nation’s Crisis Line: 988

14:39 Dr. Moutier’s Story

20:50 Cultivating Practices for Positive Mental Health

28:44 Fundamentals for Suicide Prevention

35:44 How to Have the Conversation: Signs to Watch Out For

45:44 Science-Based Tools for Suicide Prevention

52:43 Upstream Prevention Tools

1:01:20 Healing from Suicide Loss

1:04:08 Avoiding Contagion in Community

1:14:03 A Hopeful Note

1:19:07 Conclusion

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Christine Yu Moutier serves as the chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and knows the impact of suicide firsthand. She has dedicated herself to fighting this leading cause of death. For the past decade as CMO at AFSP, Dr. Moutier has been leading a nationwide movement fueled by science and grassroots to reduce suicide.

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