Berks County PA Offers Suicide Prevention Advice to Oxford

Friday, 10 June 2016 06:14

A County in Pennsylvania saw 55 suicides in 2015, and they now offer their advice to Oxford County on how to deal with the serious issue.

WOODSTOCK - When it comes to talking about suicide and getting proactive, Oxford County and the City of Woodstock can take a look at Berks County Pennsylvania.

They have taken a number of steps to address mental health after facing 55 suicides in 2015. Some of the things they have been doing include airing a PSA on television and radio and getting their local minor league baseball team involved. Berks County’s mental health and developmental disabilities administrator Edward Michalik says the best thing you can do is talk about it.

"We know we have turned the tables in the community upside down in our conversation and frankly I haven't heard one word from anyone that said your doing a bad thing, because we all know clinically and research wise, that by talking about it you're not really giving people the ideas, you are normalizing the discussion in a sense."

Michalik says one way they have been getting the message out to youth is with a play performed by high school students that is being performed across the County.

"They have put on a play written by a playwright from a neighbouring county. We are systematically trying everything we can; there are water bottles out there with our R U OK logo, we have shirts, stress balls, there are more plays by other theatre groups getting people talking about the issue."

Michalik says the best advice he would give to Oxford county is to address the problem head on and encourage people to talk about it.

"I believe over time through education and providing different alternatives to people and giving them hope that we will change that. There is no other way to do it. If you keep walking around and considering it a secret that is going to go away it will not go away."

The County has also created a PSA video that you can watch and they have created a web site that lists all of the resources available and crisis lines to call. You can see what it looks like here.