Taking #SPSM To The Streets (and why it rocks)

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you might see the hashtag #SPSM (Suicide Prevention and Social Media). Through this I have found many resources featured on this blog.  There is also a twitter chat on suicide prevention every Sunday evening (10pm EST). Being an active member of this twitter community propelled me to join a suicide prevention community in real life. Yes, fellow twitter addicts, there is a world outside ;).

Today was an “organizational” meeting of a suicide task force in the community that I work. They have actually been very active (sadly, I was late for the history of their efforts) with incredibly dedicated leadership and group members. Currently they have a post-vention team but this and other things seemed like it lost it momentum. They had an event today to re-energize it. I got the email several weeks ago and decided to turn my passion for suicide prevention into movement.

The group worked together to come up with some goals of increasing it’s reach of current initiatives, stakeholders and look at different ways to debrief suicide attempts in the county. I volunteered to co-chair the efforts to increase reach and marketing. This was a great process and excited to be a part of this.

The other import thing is that the #SPSM community rocks. Here is a small sample why the #SPSM community is awesome. After the meeting I tweeted my eagerness to participate and what the goals will be. Then I got the following responses from chat moderator Dr. April Foreman and #SPSM regular Dr. William Schmitz..

This is the power of social media in sharing resources to create positive change.  I look forward to the continued work of the #SPSM community on social media. However I am really looking forward to continue to take this mission to the community that I serve.

Sean 🙂