How are Oklahomans addressing suicide prevention? Faith coalition giving survey

A statewide faith coalition wants to know how Oklahomans view suicide.

The Oklahoma Faith Network, formerly known as the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, is asking people to take a survey the coalition leaders created to gauge how much Oklahomans of faith know about the nature of suicide and how Oklahoma faith communities are grappling with the issue. The survey is available at https://okfaith.org/suicide-prevention.

The Rev. Shannon Fleck, the organization's executive director, said she is hoping the survey will better prepare the organization as it implements a new faith-based suicide prevention program.

Fleck said the survey will help the faith-based nonprofit develop what she described as a statewide faith response to the prevelance of suicide. She said the faith network is working in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

The coalition recently rolled out the survey on its social media platforms and an e-newsletter about a month ago, but Fleck said they are currently trying to promote the survey in other ways, as well.

"We just absolutely want more than just people who have had a relationship with us as an organization," she said. "I don't want it to be limited to just people who follow us. We want a broad spectrum of people."

Fleck said it's important to note that people may take the survey anonymously.

"We just really need people to let us know what they think and what they were taught," she said.

"I think there's a lot of unspoken assumptions about what people of faith feel towards suicide and there's a variety of theological teachings surrounding it, so we really want to hone in what are the theological ideas here in Oklahoma around suicide."

'We can talk about it'

Andrea Hamor-Edmondson, senior program manager for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, said she reviewed the survey questions and felt that Oklahoma Faith Network leaders did a good job putting the survey together.

She said faith communities play a key role in many people's lives and the coalition's effort to launch a suicide prevention program ties into this.

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"When you look at protective factors of mental health, behaviorial health, one of the protective factors is having a sense of community, a sense of connection, and that's exactly what faith communities are," she said.

"For so many people in Oklahoma, and everywhere, faith communities are those spaces."

Hamor-Edmondson said the faith network has the right idea to get feedback from the people they hope to serve. She said the survey will give people who will be impacted by the program "a voice."

"When we think about prevention overall in the field of public health, one of the first things that we always do is a needs assessment and the reason is because we think we know, then we trot along and we do programming based on what we think we know," she said. "But, if we don't ask the people who are part of that work ― where they are, what's going on, what do they think is important, what do they need ― if we don't ask those questions, we're going to fail every time."

Another important aspect of both the survey and the new prevention program is they both may help people understand that it is OK to talk about suicide, Hamor-Edmondson said.

She said she preveiously trained people on how to work with teens in the area of sexual and domestic violence and a youth minister came up to her after one such session. She said he told her that a teenage girl confided in him about her abusive boyfriend and instead of talking to her about it, he simply changed the subject.

Hamor-Edmondson said the minister felt his response did not help the teen so she helped him develop a strategy so he would know how to better respond if he ever faced a similar situation.

She said the minister's response is an example of how people sometimes respond when somebody in their community dies by suicide.

"I think what we can get out of this (survey and program) is that we can talk about it ― it's not dangerous and talking about it can help."

What is the Oklahoma Faith Network?

Founded in 1972, the Oklahoma Faith Network includes mainline denominations like the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA and United Church of Christ, as well as individual churches and other faith groups.

The organization has raised its statewide profile in recent years by joining movements like the Justice for Julius Jones Coalition, which began as a faith movement, and other high profile initiatives. In 2020, the faith network created an anti-discrimination theological statement that launched the faith coalition's "No Hate in the Heartland" campaign.

How to get help

If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts, addictive tendencies, stress and other mental health issues, you can call or text 988, Oklahoma's Mental Health Hotline, or call 911.

To take the suicide survey

To take the Oklahoma Faith Network's suicide survey, go to https://okfaith.org/suicide-prevention.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Faith Network wants people to share their views about suicide