Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting you. This week, here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks so much for joining us here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman, and we have a few very important conversations lined up for you. In a bit, we'll talk to an
organization supporting mothers across the country on this Mother's Day weekend. But right now, to get things started, let me bring in Vic Armstrong, vice President of Health Equity at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, who joins me for Mental Health Awareness Month. Vick, thanks so much for coming on the show, and let's begin with an overview of the work your organization does. Sure,
thank you for having me AFSP. First of all, we are an organization whose mission is to save lives and bring hope to those impacted by suicide. We actually started as kind of a grassroots movement from a FAMI that had lost someone to suicide and wanted to make sure no one else had to endure the same thing. We've now grown to an organization that is the largest suicide prevension and suicide suitside events and awareness organization in the nation. We're also the
world's largest private funder of suicide research. We have chapters in all fifty states, including Washington, d C. And Puerto Rico as well, and so you can find resources in every state. You can connect with your local chapter, and so we always have chapters who are ready and willing to support whatever's going on in their communities. When it comes to the numbers of suicides that we're seeing here in the US, what has that looked like in recent years?
So we've seen an increase in suicide. We saw from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two, we saw about a three percent increase, raising suicide death to about fifty thousand for twenty twenty two, which is which is I again, about a three percent increase. We're also seeing some targeted increases, specifically in black and brown communities. So we are seeing some shifts in not just the numbers of suicide, but really the communities that are being impacted by
suicides. But while we know that these numbers are increasing and losing anyone to suicide is you know, one death is too many. We also recognize though that we understand better today than we did five ten years ago how to drill down into communities, how to get upstream in our suicide prevention, how to create resource that really resonate with people in the communities where they live, work,
play, and worship. And we also understand better about how to engage people in conversation, even people from different communities that may not have been communities that have traditionally had a lot of conversation around suicide. For example, grew up in rural North Carolina and in the community I grew up in it, especially you know, being raised as a black male, I was always taught that suicide was not something that impacted the black community. We now know that's
not true. We see that one of the fastest rising demographics is young black people. So so we are learning more now about how we need to engage with communities. So even though we have seen this increase, I think we are a better positioned now that we've ever been in being able to address these challenges. You mentioned black and brown communities. I want to ask you about two others that often come up during this discussion, veterans here in this country
and the LGBTQ plus community. What can you tell us about that. Yeah, we know that for the past several years, veterans suicides have hovered somewhere around twenty per day, depending on the estimates, a little bit more,
a little bit less. But we also recognize that there are specific needs that are unique to the veteran community, and so we do have resources that reach out specifically to our veteran community, even when we know with our nine eight eight crisis line, there is an option where you can compress a few of veterans for veteran resources, So we are creating more resources for the veteran community, but we also recognize that that's an issue that needs to be addressed.
We've actually lost more veterans to suicide in the past ten years that we lost total soldiers during the Vietnam War, which span twenty years. But we know that it's an issue, and we think about the LGBTQ plus community. We know that for individuals and for young people in particular, who identifies LGBTQ, they're three times more likely to attempt suicide five times more likely to die by
suicide. So again we recognize those challenges and it's not that there's anything inherently wrong with people identify as LGBTQ plus, but the increase in suicide really is a byproduct of a lot of the stigma that comes along with identifying LGBTQ plus and a lot of the pressure that society puts on young people identify as LGBTQ plus. So again, we are mindful of those things and trying to create
resources that allow us to really reach into specific communities. I'm Ryan Gorman and for Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm joined by Vick Armstrong, vice President of Health Equity at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. You can learn more about this organization and support the work they do at AFSP dot org. When we look at demographics, young people have become a major topic of conversation when it
comes to mental health. What are we seeing with suicide numbers among younger people in the US. I think one of the trends that we're seeing is that when we look at specifically black and brown communities, whether we're talking to African American, Hispanic AAPI community, or the American community, we are seeing increases espectly in young people in those areas. And so again, part of our strategy is in looking at how do we create resources they reach young people.
So we've had for example, our programs we partner with making the Stallion that was an a campaign that was instrumental in reaching a younger population and especially black
and brown individuals. And so we're we're making connections with resources and trying to use mediums that speak directly to those communities because we recognize that for a lot of our young people are they are hurting, they are confused, and we recognize that according to CDC data, young people are about seventy six percent of them say they would rather talk to and that's that's you know, that's three out of four would rather talk to appear they're experiencing crisis than talk to mental
health professional. So part of what we're doing too is trying to educate young people on how to how to have these conversations, how to create open dial or how to normalize the conversation for young people. And there's an opportunity to do that because for a lot of our younger population, they are much more open to having these conversations about mental health than a lot of our older population are who may have been raised during a time when we did not have these
conversations openly. What do we see from social media, because that can so often be a double edged sword. There have certainly been issues with social media and the algorithms and suicidal content and things like that, but that's also a place where sometimes younger people can find others like you were just alluding to,
to help get them through difficult periods. Have you at your organization looked into the impact of social media, Well, social media, like a lot of things, it has to be taking a moderation, so we recognize that there are positives and that they're negatives, just like with other things. So we've utilized social media as a resource to reach young people because we know that young
people are very active on social media. But we're also very mindful of how you can create safe messaging, so we try to create safe messaging resources.
We partnered with social media outlets, We've partnered with community grassroots messaging, trying to help people understand how to communicate things and also trying to help encourage people that even on social media, if you hear someone or you see someone say something or post something on social media that raises concerned to be able to also to reach out to that personal connect that person with help to be mindful of
those signs and risk factors. But the thing I think that we have to be mindful of with social media is that young people are accessing social media. We know they are, and so we just have to be mindful of how do we as parents and people care about them. How do we try to help them and prepare them for the things they may encounter on social media impact their mental well being. That means that we try to keep the lines of
communication open with them to talk about what they're feeling. If they're experiencing bullying online, we want to be able to talk to them about that. We want to be mindful of as much as possible what our children are exposed to with social media, and just trying to create more opportunities for them to process the things that they're hearing or seeing on social media that they may not emostly
be able to handle. I'm Ryan Gorman and for Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm joined by Vick Armstrong, Vice President of Health Equity at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. You can learn more and support this organization's work at AFSP
dot org. You're in the business of preventing suicide, So are there commonalities that we see among those who attempt suicide, different triggers and things like that that all of us who are looking to support those friends and family members in our lives who may be struggling with something things that we should watch out for.
Yeah, there are risk and warning signs, and generally, if someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts, you can often see changes that will manifest themselves as changes in behavior, changes in talk, or changes in mood, and so we encourage people to be aware of those signs. Changes in talk may look like someone who is openly saying I don't want to be here anymore, I
don't want to live anymore. I'm just tired, I'm tired of life, or someone who actually says I'm thinking about suicide, and we always take talk of suicide seriously. Changes in mood. Maybe you observe someone who's usually a very upbeat, positive person and now all of a sudden they just seem to be depressed or nervous or anxious. That can be a warning sign. Or the opposite, someone who's generally more subdued and low key, and now all
of a sudden they seem elated. That could be someone who's decided that my pain is going to end because I'm not going to be here anymore. So you want to look for those kind of changes in mood and then change in behavior or when you see those outward signs that someone is going through something. It maybe someone who's engaged in any more risky behavior. It maybe increases in drug and alcohol use. It could be someone who's googling information about about suicide
and how to die by suicide. So we encourage people to be mindful of those signs, and then we also try to provide guidance for how to have
those conversations. So we have on our FSP website, I talk Away the Dark campaign, which you can find at a FSP dot org slash talk Away the Dark, and that talk Away the Dark campaign we depict a conversation with someone who's experiencing suicidal thoughts, but they're not opening up and not wanting to talk about it, and so we illustrate how you recognize the warning signs, how you have a caring conversation with that person, and then how you connect
them to help. And the thing I love about that Talk Away the Dark campaign is that it illustrates that you can anyone can save a life, and you can save a life simply by creating social connection and asking clearly, concisely
are you thinking about killing yourself? And then the other thing that we also have that same in that same space on the website is our Real Convo Guide, and our Real Convo Guide offers step by step twols for starting and continue a conversation about mental health and suicide, how to talk about it, how to reach out for help, and in our newest iteration I knew Real Convote
Guide, we're actually connecting people when they are hesitant. So how do you how do you connect someone when they say I don't want to go into therapy. I've been in therapy before it wasn't helpful. Or someone who says I don't want to go on medication, or if I call someone talk to someone, they're only going to put me in the hospital. Then how do you address those kind of concerns that kind of pushback. So we have those resources on our website as well, and you can find all that at AFSP dot
org slash talk Away with the Dark. I'm Ryan Gorman and for Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm joined by Vick Armstrong, vice president of Heald Equity at the American Foundation for Suicide prevention. Are there certain major life events like relationship issues, financial problems that can tend to become triggers, But what I'd say is is number one, and I often show people the suicide itself is not actually a disease. It's the worst possible outcome of a combination of a lot
of very complex things, often including mental health challenges. And what that means is that oftentimes when a person reaches that point of suicidality, we may see the thing that kind of pushes that person, that may be the last straw that pushes them over the edge, but we don't necessarily see all the underlying
things, all the underlying stressors that have impacted them. So oftentimes the thing that's most visible to us is that life stressor like someone going through a divorce, like the depth of a spouse, like someone who's having financial problems. But we know those things alone in of themselves don't usually push a person to
the point of suicidality unless there are other things going on with them. But by all means, when you know people are going through life changing events like that, you do want to be mindful of the stressors that they're feeling.
You want to check on them to make sure they're doing okay. But we know that not everyone who goes through a divorce is going to be suicidal, Not everyone who loses a spouse is going to be suicidal, But there could be those things that accompanying other things, could lead that person to thinking that
it's just more than I could bear to just feel overwhelmed. How much has the launch of the nine eighty eight crisis hotline helped with all of this, Well, we've seen an exponential increase in people actually calling for help, so I think it's helped a great deal. There's still a lot of work that we need to do on increasing awareness around ninety eight and helping people to know
how to access ninety eight. And we also have a lot of work to do on making sure that we are communicating with communities that have not traditionally called helplines crisis lines. A lot of communities of color have not traditionally called nine one one, for example, but now we're trying and encourage them to call ninety eight eight and help them to understand that ninety eight is a different number.
It's a number that's designed to connect with their mental health response. So oftentimes in how we're talking about and socializing people to utilizing ninety eight eight. It impacts different communities differently. The other challenge I think with ninety eight and ninety eight, to me is one of the greatest one of the greatest things that I think has come has come about in the mental health space in my
thirty years in working mental health. But ninety eight is also in the in the early stages, so we still have a lot of work to do on how we're creating those resources. Ninety eight is really about giving people a number to call, but it's also about having someone to respond with their mental health response and then connecting people the resources, and so we got a lot of
work to do in those spaces. But again, I think part of where AFSP has a role there is in normalizing the conversation about mental health and suicide so that people are more willing to access resources like nine eight eight, and then also in helping people around them to recognize with someone that may be struggling, because what you may be doing is encouraging a loved one to reach out to ninety eight. And final question for you, what are different ways that
everyone can get involved with your organization? The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and support the important work that you're doing. Oh, such a great question. So I encourage folks go to our website FSP dot org. On our website, first of all, you can find a local chapter in your area. Find out where your local chapters are. There. There are resource on our website for folks who may be looking for answers to how to have these conversations.
We do have our talk of with the Dark campaign on the website. We've got our real Convo guide on the website. We also have information on how you can connect with a WALK in your community, how you can connect with other suicide loss envivors in your community to get that kind of social support, how to get involved in supporting the research that we do at AFSP. So by all means, go to a FSP dot or look at all the
different reas sources that we have there. And if you interested in connecting with us, I encourage you to go to our website, find what you're interested in, and we have more than happy to connect with you. And of course if you're looking for help, they have that there as well. Again AFSP dot org. That's a FSP dot org. Vic Armstrong vice president of Health Equity at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention with us for Mental Health Awareness
Month. Vick, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show and for all the great work you and your organization are doing. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. All Right, I'm Ryan Gorman here on iHeartRadio Communities, and now let me bring in my next guest for Mother's Day weekend. I'm joined by Christy Terlington Burns, founder and president of Every Mother Counts, which you can learn more about at Everymothercounts dot org.
Christy, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to join us, and let's start with an overview of the work your organization. Doesn't how this organization first came about. Sure, thank you. It's great to be here. I founded the organization back in twenty ten. I like to say that I became a global maternal health advocate the day that I became a mother,
and that was actually in two thousand and three. I had a pretty normal pregnancy and was really ready and excited about this new role I was going to be taking on, and had a great care and great options here in New York City, and then at the other side of delivering my daughter, the unexpected happened, which is that I experienced a postpartum hemorrhage, which is
one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the world. And that experience, coupled with my awareness in that moment of what was needed when things turn on a dime, is what sort of led me to finding this organization.
We really work hard to not only invest in community based programs and solutions right the people who are meeting the most marginalized or historically a marginalized communities and trying to meet them where they are and provide really high quality and respectfully respectful maternity care, and also to amplify those models of care and the individuals providing it in our storytelling and our filmmaking, as well as using those stories and those
models of care to help to shape and influence policy and our advocacy work. When we talk about maternal health, what all does that encompass? Gosh, I mean, we're very much focused on a specific time in a woman's reproductive lives, you know, pregnancy, delivery, and a full year postpartum, which has been the time period that many policy makers and advocates alike have worked
really hard to extend Medicaid coverage for a full year. Obviously, maternal health starts way before one is in a position to decide whether they will become a mother. It's really important that women and girls' health is in its optimum when starting to think about those kinds of things and changes in our lives. It's obviously a huge responsibility, but obviously also a big economic commitment, and so the better we can prepare and go into that phase of our lives, the
more likely that we'll have a safe and healthy outcome. When you have a relationship with a provider and are in the healthcare system already, you are more likely to sort of address any complications earlier on in the process and hopefully have the you know, the access and ability to be able to seek other kinds of care should you need it. And so then postpartum it continues. Right One of our grantee partners says that postpartum is forever, and I would agree.
Now that my kids are both adults, it doesn't end. You know, when you become a mother or a parent, it's very hard to kind of shut that switch off. So our health is determined based on that experience. Oftentimes it's our first interaction with a health care provider or a hospitalization, and so there's just a lot at stake when we're thinking about bringing life into the world. On this Mother's Day weekend, I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by
the founder and president of Every Mother Counts, Christy Turlington Burns. You can learn more about this organization and every Mothercounts dot org. I think a lot of people listening would just assume that the United States is towards the top when it comes to how countries deal with maternal health. But there is a maternal health crisis here in the US. Can you tell us a little bit about that. Yes, yeah, the US is one of very few countries,
developed countries, high resource countries with a rising maternal mortality rate. It is more dangerous to give birth today than it was a generation ago for moms, particularly black and brown moms. There are you know, the risk is two to three times hire for a black and brown mother to become a mother in this country. And there's only one real thing at the root of that problem, which is institutional racism and bias in our medical systems, which is keeping
people from seeking care in a more timely way. We've been advocating on this issue, trying to raise awareness of the black paternal health crisis in this country for some time, but there has been a significant amount of progress in the last few years, particularly with the leadership and the establishment of the Black Paternal Health Caucus, And today there are a package, very comprehensive package of about thirteen bills which are called collectively the Mamnibus Act, that seek to address many
of the disparities and also you know, data collection and the things that we need in order to be able to really address these disparities. Well, and that's one thing that I think is important to note. You're not just talking about the problem with your organization Every mother AC counts. You're working on solutions. So what are some of the solutions that are in that bill or just
that you're advocating for in general. Yeah, I mean, I think a really important thing is the way that we the way we care for women right when women feel seen and heard and listen to, that builds confidence in the mother or the birthing person at hand. That's such an important part when you are interfacing with the medical system, right, being able to know your body well enough to be able to ask the right questions and to have the guidance
about what questions to ask at what time throughout a pregnancy and postpartum. This is like a really important thing in terms of just building relationship between patient provider that I think again enhances the ultimate experience of bringing life into the world.
Another really important thing is just really investing in community based providers, knowing that not rebirth requires surgery or hospitalization, and so really thinking about how we can best meet women and families where they are, which is likely in the communities
that they live in. This is the way that you know, doulas, which are basically patient advocates or you know, psychosocial support systems that really help guide a mom through the process if she doesn't have other support systems in in her in her world. And so we really do a lot on you know, making sure that doulas are more available, that they are affordable, but also that there is coverage for the kinds of benefits that they bring to the
outcome of the pregnancy itself. And then midwise. Midwise are an incredibly effective and low cost solution of women's health care. So, for example, I had midwives deliver both my children in a New York City hospital birthing center. And you know, midwives Duelas and Obi Guyindes work together as a team so that depending on how high of a risk your pregnancy, your situation might be, you know, they're working and handing off the patient or having that continuity
of care. So we advocate for continuity of care as well. And then data collection has been so important. You know, for many, many decades, there was not consistent reporting on maternal mortality in any state, you know, let alone across the country, and now there is, you know, there is a maternal mortality Review board in almost every city and state in the
country. With that review process which looks at each and every death and complication that comes through a hospital system, there is more understanding and learning that we can take into this conversation to address the needs at large. This has been
a huge thing. There's been recent reports to sort of questioning the data and how how reliable the data is. But I think it's been a huge, hugeccomplishment to be able to collect the amount of data that we have, and there's still so much to be done in terms of really understanding what we have access to now. As you've worked to raise awareness on this issue through your
organization and as a public figure yourself. What has the response been like, how many mothers have come forward and have told you that, you know, this is an issue obviously that impacted them, and having you and your organization
behind them has made a significant impact. It's really incredible. Actually, every time that I speak to a new audience or show one of the films that we've made that we do a lot of storytelling and filmmaking to share some of these challenges and solutions, audience members come up with either similar kinds of complications or experiences or a lot of our audiences are also people that are stakeholders.
They're in the ecosystem of internal health, and they come and they say, oh gosh, you know, I've myself treated a patient in a way that I didn't realize was disrespectful. I didn't realize that that was judgmental. I didn't realize that that would push her out of the health system or make her less trusting of my care, so talentless. I mean, it's a conversation.
I think this is one of those issues that we all can relate to, whether or not we've been through it ourselves had a positive or negative experience, we know someone who has. And also we all came into the world one way or the other, right and we all had a mother at some time. So it's really one of those those issues that people when they know, they say, what can I do and how can I help? And really Every Mother Counts exists for that very reason. We have a lot of
information on our website, Everymothercounts dot org. Again, we create films and campaigns and social messaging which helps to you know, unpack the various challenges and can you know, mixed messages that might be out there. We do a good job trying to like look at the data, you know, digest the data, break it down for people so that more of us can be a
part of the conversation and a part of those solutions that are needed. And finally, what are some ways that everyone can support the work every Mother Counts is doing, especially on this Mother's Day weekend, well Mother's Days of course, our biggest campaign season of the year. We actually have a matching campaign each year, and that's a great opportunity for people who are feeling like they want to support, want to pay forward their own experiences a lot of mothers
don't necessarily want flowers and breakfast and bed. They would want to make sure that another mother goes to this process and enters motherhood in the right way as a healthy, strong woman who can thrive in motherhood. And so it's a great way for people to donate and also double your impact while doing it during a match period of time. Also, we have a number of product partnerships and there's a Mother's Day collection that's available on our website that has some really
lovely Mother's Day gifts, gifts that get back. We really believe that the gift of motherhood itself, you know, is the thing that we're celebrating this year, and it truly is if again, you have the support systems in place and are feeling your best. Christy Terlington Burns, founder and president of Every mother Counts Again. You can learn more and support their work at Everymothercounts dot org. Christy, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to
come on the show. We really appreciate it. Thank you, my pleasure, thank you for your help. All Right, and that's going to do it for this edition of iHeartRadio Communities. As we wrap things up, want off our big thanks to all of our guests, and of course to all of you for listening. If you want to hear previous episodes of the show, we're on your iHeartRadio app. Just search for iHeartRadio Communities. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to you again real soon.