K
evin’s Song, a Michigan-
based charitable organization
dedicated to generating public
awareness about the causes of suicide,
held its Annual Virtual Conference on
Suicide in late January.
The conference featured survivors
of suicide who shared their stories of
combating stigma and dealing with
loss and grief, followed by a panel
discussion with four survivors who
shared their personal experiences of
surviving the pain of suicide loss.
On the heels of the conference, many
people and organizations in the Metro
Detroit Jewish community opened
up about the work being done in the
suicide prevention and awareness space
and how important these conversations
are in combating the stigma.
REACHING FOR HOPE
Rabbi Daniel Syme, rabbi emeritus at
Temple Beth El, has dedicated his life
to youth suicide prevention since 1975
when his 21-year-old brother,
Michael, took his own life.
Syme started a national
suicide prevention program,
Reach for Hope, and has
been dedicated to saving lives
across the nation ever since.
“Every time I was able to
save a life, it was as if I had
saved Michael,” Syme said.
Syme also works in suicide
prevention with Jewish Family Service.
He said, until recently, discussions
about suicide simply didn’t take place.
“When these discussions started
taking place, people heard about
them, and people who had been
very reluctant to talk about their
own experiences came out of the
woodwork and shared their pain and
determination to get involved,” Syme
said. “If I’ve learned one thing in close
to 50 years, it’s that talking about
suicide helps to prevent it.”
JFS Youth Mental Health
Coordinator Julia Cohen
says community events
and programs where we
normalize and talk about
mental health are critical.
“I think reducing stigma
is key. Once people feel
supported and comfortable
to raise their hand and say they’re
struggling and need help, I think that,
in and of itself, makes huge bounds in
suicide prevention,” she said.
‘WE NEED TO TALK’
We Need to Talk, a youth mental health
program developed by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
and its partners in 2017, was created
in response to a community needs
assessment that revealed a significant
number of youth were struggling with
sadness, anxiety and depression.
Four years after its creation, the
day-to-day operations of the program
have moved to JFS, and Cohen says the
Let’s Talk About It
32 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022
HEALTH
Rabbi
Daniel
Syme
Julia Cohen
JFS has a new focus on destigmatizing
conversations about suicide.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER