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