A Constructivist View of Suicide: How Does One Make Meaning?
Session Recording
Description
Throughout time, societies have struggled with strong reactions to suicide. Suicidality has become a phenomenon not easily understood by many academic disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and psychiatry.
In our attempt to make meaning, we collect shocking statistics and share resources to develop interventions and prevention programs to address the alarming rise in suicide rates. However, in the wake of all these efforts stand those impacted by suicide. The legacy of suicide for everyone from the first responder to the last responder and, most importantly, the families is the unanswered question of how to make sense of suicide.
This presentation will discuss the importance of meaning-making and its influence on grief, mourning, and post-traumatic growth.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this program, participants should be better able to:
- Broaden their understanding by highlighting the moral, psychological, and philosophical implications of suicide.
- Learn more about trauma, mental illness, and suicidal thinking.
- Able to identify moral injury and learn why “meaning-making” is critical to healing the trauma associated with suicide.
Facilitator
Founder of the Vermont Center for Responder Wellness
Sonny Provetto, LICSW, is an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association (EMDRIA)-approved trauma consultant, certified EMDR clinician, and trainer for police, fire, and EMS — nationally and internationally.
He is the founder of the Vermont Center for Responder Wellness and the architect of the Acute Stress Adaptive Protocol, an EMDR-based trauma intervention used by First Responders in the wake of a traumatic event. His experiences span a career as a police officer and an emergency mental health clinician at 9/11 ground zero. These experiences have guided his clinical practice with First Responders for over 20 years. The Vermont Center for Responder Wellness (the Center) is a full-service treatment center specializing in treating traumatic stress. The Center also provides training around mental health and developing a peer-support program using EMDR Early Interventions (EEI) as the core modality.
Sonny currently consults on issues of stress and trauma with 20 Vermont departments. He is a subject-matter expert on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who, in 2017, testified for the Vermont legislature to make PTSD a compensable injury for First Responders. This resulted in Vermont becoming the first state in the United States to recognize PTSD as a work-related injury for first responders. Sonny is the recipient of the 2018 EMDRIA Advocacy Award as a distinguished clinician, recognized for the
support and advancement of EMDR as an effective therapy for treating trauma in emergency service personnel. Recently, Sonny received the Champion Award from the New York State Department of Human Services for providing consultation and training on issues related to stress, trauma, and resiliency.