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Mental health communications informed by lived experience and expertise.

Salt Lake Tribune •

Fredrick Vars and Bryan Barks: Utah’s voluntary do-not-sell firearms law can save lives

Utahns are dying from gun violence — but the vast majority of these deaths are not the type of gun violence you hear about in the news. In particular, Utahns are dying from firearm suicide. Suicides make up 84 percent of all firearm deaths in Utah, and in 2019, Utah had the ninth highest firearm suicide rate in the country.

But as of May of this year, Utahns have a unique tool to defend themselves from firearm suicide. Utah has become one of the first states in the nation to enact a voluntary d
The Hill •

With near-unanimous support, it's time to pass universal background checks

When it comes to gun violence, Americans are tired. Tired of grieving. Tired of witnessing friends, family and neighbors die as a result of everyday violence — whether it is community violence, firearm suicide, mass shootings, or domestic violence perpetrated with firearms. Tired of watching policymakers offer “thoughts and prayers” but taking little action. Gun violence in all its forms is a public health crisis, and Americans are desperate for solutions.

In the current political climate, it i
Vox •

"I want a gun policy to defend myself — from suicide"

I am not prohibited from purchasing firearms, but I would like to be. Not because I am a danger to anyone else — because I am at an increased risk for suicide. My inpatient care doctor explained this to me years ago as she scribbled “bipolar II disorder” on my chart. “Suicidal ideation is a common symptom that has to be aggressively managed and treated,” she said. “Some people have to manage chronic pain. You have to manage recurring suicidality.” It was a blunt addition to her treatment recomme
Bustle •

How To Help Someone Who Feels Suicidal, According To Someone Who’s Been There

Standing in the doorway of my kitchen, still in my pajamas, I am watching my husband search for pill bottles. His face is tired. His hands are full of the orange cylinders I’ve collected. He throws some of the bottles in the garbage and loads the ones I still need for my mental health treatment regimen into a small, teal cooler — a wedding gift from a childhood friend. When we received the gift years ago, we imagined filling it with ice and glass Coke bottles that we’d open and clink together be
TheHill •

Gun suicides can be prevented through voluntary self-prohibition

When it comes to gun violence, our country is distracted; it's understandable. In 2017 alone, we grieved the deadliest mass shooting in American history, the deadliest church shooting, and countless gun deaths in neighborhoods across the country.

These events, deaths, and injuries are so horrific, so tragic, that they consume our emotional energy. They consume our compassion. They dominate our minds and muddy our ability to see an important piece of the puzzle: suicides comprise the majority of
Los Angeles Times •

Readers React: Don't use mental illness to restrict gun ownership. That just reinforces stigma

To the editor: Three months after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., it is clear that the politics of gun violence prevention have shifted. As the Los Angeles Times noted, one of the indicators of this shift is the bipartisan passage of state laws across the country to keep guns away from people determined to be at great risk of committing violence.

The focus on behavioral factors makes extreme risk laws unique and effective, as the criteria for
Ms. Magazine •

We Have the Tools to Help Young Women Survive This Gun Violence Epidemic

Suicides comprise six out of every 10 gun deaths in the U.S.; firearms account for half of all suicides. The rate of firearm suicide is climbing each year—and it is quickly becoming a larger problem among both women and girls. In 2016, nearly 3,300 women and girls died by firearm suicide—nine every single day. This number has increased each year for the last several years, illustrating an alarming trend: more girls and women are using firearms—the most lethal method of suicide—to take their own
The Hill •

Gun violence prevention is a feminist issue

Today marks the one year anniversary of the historic Women’s March on Washington — the beginning of a grassroots movement for change, a strong rebuke of Donald Trump Donald TrumpTrump Org, CFO indicted by New York grand jury: reports Black Caucus presses Democratic leaders to expedite action on voting rights Judge blocks Florida social media law MORE and his oppressive philosophy, and a message to people across the world: we will not succumb to fear. The march didn’t focus on one particular issu

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