#SPSMCHAT 2.0 Reboot! 9pm ET

Social Justice – What it is and what it is not.

These are difficult conversations, and none of us will navigate them perfectly. It’s OK to be uncomfortable and it’s OK to make a mistake.  How can we do more to view suicide prevention, and our individual and organizational work in particular, through a social justice lens? What does that even mean?

When developing the framework for an executive committee/board of directors’ fall retreat dedicated to social justice and racial equity, Jen Kelliher, Managing Director for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, shared:

This social justice focus, while we are focusing quite a bit on racial equity, also has obvious applications for gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious background, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other forms of identity that will deeply enhance our work as well as our ability to reach Massachusetts residents, encourage help seeking, and refer to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate resources across a variety of demographic dimensions including, but not limited to, race and ethnicity.

Our applause in advance to social justice activists and advocates Jess Stohlmann-Rainey, Pata Suyemoto and Jen Kelliher for stepping up to lead what is the first of several conversations we will have about the intersection of social justice and suicide prevention.

#SPSMCHAT, 9:00 pm ET, January 20, 2019.

Jess Stohlmann-Rainey is a researcher, trainer, and advocate serving as the Director of Program Development at Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners. She has focused her career on creating pathways to intersectional, justice-based, emotional support for marginalized communities. Her work has been published/featured in Mad in America, the RMIRECC’s Short Takes on Suicide Prevention, No Restraints with Rudy Caseras, Postvention in Action: The International Handbook of Suicide Bereavement, and The Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Jess centers her lived expertise as an ex-patient and suicide attempt and loss survivor in her work. She lives in Denver, CO with her partner (Jon) and a 16 year old chiweenie (Marty), and has a taxidermied two-headed duckling (Phil & Lil) for an office mate. You can check out her website, or find her on Twitter or Facebook for a steady stream of opinions and geriatric dog photos.

Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, jewelry designer, avid bicyclist and mental health activist. She earned her PhD. in education from the University of Pennsylvania and did her research on multicultural education and issues of race and racism.  Pata is a member of a number of boards and committees including the planning committee for the annual Asian American Mental Health Forum and the MA Department of Public Health’s Suicide Prevention Community Advisory Board.  She co-chairs the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition. Pata has spoken and written about her struggles with depression and is a co-founder of The Breaking Silences Project. She recently joined the AAS Impacted Family & Friends Committee. Her claim to fame is that she rode her bicycle across the country in the summer of 2012. 

“Why walk when you can bike.”

URLs: www.thepolkadotjournal.blogspot.com

Jennifer Kelliher has been the Managing Director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) since 2012.   She is passionate about social justice and has been the chair of the White Ally Caucus since its inception in 2017.  She is also a member of the AAS Impacted Family and Friends Committee.  Prior to working with the MCSP, she spent three and a half years as the Director of the Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition.  Ms. Kelliher has a degree in Women’s Studies from Smith College and lives in Lowell, MA. One of her passions is writing.