BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES, March 15, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The voices of those with lived experience as attempt and ideation survivors, suicide loss survivors and their impacted family and close friends must be at all prevention, intervention and postvention tables within suicidology to better inform researchers and peers. In the United States, the most important table to be at is found at the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS).

In 2016, at the AAS Conference in Chicago, A Voice at the Table/Impacted Family & Friends Co-Founders Annemarie Matulis and Tracey Pacheco Medeiros introduced a peer-to-peer postvention wellness workshop series they had developed titled Re-Energize & Re-Connect and dedicated to attempt/ideation survivors further along the recovery and healing path. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, they expanded on adaptations to the R&R at AAS conferences in Phoenix, D.C., and Denver.

The R&R was developed in 2014 with the release of the documentary, A Voice at the Table. A year later, some loss survivors happened see the workbook and asked if it could be adapted for them. There is also a third version, “Blended Hearts,” that welcomes attempt and loss survivors and their impacted family & friends to one table together.

“I am typically associated with being an attempt survivor,” noted Medeiros. “I am also a loss survivor and an impacted family member.” The interactive R&R workshop at AAS23 will be part of the Healing After Suicide Loss Summit and devoted to loss survivors.
AAS23 is in Portland Oregon April 18-22, and on April 19th, an ensemble of national R&R facilitators from Florida (Judy Albelo), Massachusetts (Medeiros & Matulis), Missouri (Jacque Christmas) and Washington state (Tracy Oeser), will deliver an informational walk-through of the recently updated R&R workbook for those in person (who will get to take one home) and watching remotely.

“This all began because AAS stepped up and supported the need to hear the lived experience voices,” Medeiros shared.

“The AAS conference continues to be “the” place to experience cutting edge, outside-the box sessions that wrap around everything from research to lived experience. The conference content becomes the heartbeat of suicidology and weaves a powerful living tapestry of knowledge,” said Matulis.
She added, “Somewhere throughout the sessions, a new voice, a groundbreaking paper or poster – a workshop or Plenary/General Session speaker will light the fire of hope for the future of suicide prevention. This is always about doing the best we can to save lives and improve the quality of life and why we from A Voice at the Table/Impacted Family & Friends return year after year.”

For more information about AAS23, https://www.theeventregistration.com/aas23/2650799

Annemarie Matulis
A Voice at the Table
+1 5089227278
director@avoiceatthetable.org
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter