Mental Health Awareness Month 2024

Hello everyone and hope you are doing well.
 
Since my last entry, the page design of my book has been reviewed and I am now waiting to review a potential cover for the book – it seems like it is finally coming together! I can’t wait to share the final result with everyone.
 
In other news, I hope that everyone has a great May as we celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month, which ties in with our work of suicide prevention. As always, thanks for all you do to help others in the mental health and suicide prevention worlds.

Incremental Changes

Last month I announced that I was going to begin to provide pharmacist peer coaching. This is a different path from my suicide prevention work, however I am planning to continue doing suicide prevention in addition to this new endeavor.

What is pharmacist peer coaching? It involves providing guidance and support to any of my fellow pharmacists who are interested in working with me. It can include a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) career, health and well-being. If you are a pharmacist, I would be honored to walk alongside you! Please email me at healthbyd@gmail.com for more information. 
 
As for my book, editing has been completed and I am now waiting to see what the page design is going to look like. Every day gets me closer to a published book!
 
As always, thanks for all that you do for suicide prevention, and have a great month.

Pharmacist Peer Coaching

I am excited to announce that starting this month I will begin to provide pharmacist peer coaching, which is a different path from my suicide prevention work. I am planning to continue doing suicide prevention work in addition to this new endeavor.

What is pharmacist peer coaching? It involves providing guidance and support to any of my fellow pharmacists who are interested in working with me. It can include a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) career, health and well-being. If you are a pharmacist, I would be honored to walk alongside you! Please email me at healthbyd@gmail.com for more information. 

As for my book, I have received the 1st round of edits back, so now I am working to go through those edits and respond to the publisher. 

As always, thanks for all that you do for suicide prevention, and have a great month.

Moving Forward

Moving Forward 

Unfortunately, I haven’t made a lot of progress on my idea list from January, however I hope to find the top idea I want to focus on and get rolling with that in the next few months. 
 
As for my book, we are currently in the 1st round of editing, and I am waiting to have my book sent back to me with all the suggested edits. 
 
Thanks for all that you do for suicide prevention, and hope to have some more exciting updates next month.

New Year, New Plans and Projects

To begin, I wanted to share some exciting news – my book has been accepted for publication with Christian Faith Publishing! My hope is to have the finished book out in the world in the second half of 2024.
 
Then, as I look at 2024, I am hoping to expand my suicide prevention work. Here is a list of ideas I have: 
 
Offering online classes (live and recorded) on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention as they relate to other topics such as depresribing, Chrisitianity, suicide loss survivors, lethal means restriction, etc.
 
Suicide loss survivor retreats/workshops
 
1 to 1 Sessions
 
Writing 
 
Speaking 
 
Art (abstract art, painting, etc.)
 
Pharmacist peer support
 
How pharmacists can implement suicide prevention in their work 
 
Suicide research 
 
Suicide prevention tools and how to use 
 
Suicide loss survivor membership/community 
 
None of these are set in stone, however as you can see there are a lot of ways I am looking at education and support when it comes to suicide prevention. Are there other ideas I am missing? What should I add to the list? Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to what 2024 has in store.

A Time for Reflection

Monthly update: 

Editing on my book will continue through the end of the year.
 
Great news – I have finished reading through the Bible! I am so thrilled to have finished this project.
 
I hope that everyone has a great December and that you take some time to reflect on the year we are about to finish. Thank you for all that you continue to do to spread the message of suicide prevention, and I look forward to continuing the work in 2024.

First Draft Completed!

Monthly update: 

Great news – I have completed the first draft of my book! The draft is over 62,000 words. Now, it’s on to editing through the end of the year.
 
I also continue to read through the Bible and I hope to finish it within the next month. 
 
I hope that everyone has a great November as we continue our journey through the year. Thank you for all that you continue to do to spread the message of suicide prevention.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Monthly update: 

Writing on my book (working title The Great Physician) continues. As of this writing I have written over 59,000 words, and I am planning to finish my first draft in the next few weeks. I continue to enjoy the process of seeing an additional 1500 words being added each week, and I am very happy to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I also continue to read through the Bible with the goal of finishing it before the end of 2023 – now that I am in the New Testament, I am enjoying it even more.

I hope that everyone has a great October as we continue our journey through the year. Thank you for all that you continue to do to spread the message of suicide prevention.

Suicide Prevention Month

Suicide Prevention Month, which is nationally recognized in the United States in September, is here again.  There is also National Suicide Prevention Week, which is September 10th through 16th this year.  Lastly, there is World Suicide Prevention Day, which is always held on September 10th.  Since there are several events happening in a short amount of time, I am including links to provide further information about each event.  As you will see, there are a lot of groups and organizations that are involved in this important work.

National Suicide Prevention Month:
 
 
 
 
National Suicide Prevention Week: 
 
 
World Suicide Prevention Day: 
 
 
 
 
If you visit these links, you will find a wealth of information about suicide prevention as well as ways you can support the cause.  Your involvement can be as simple as a conversation or as in depth as being on the “front lines”, but the beauty is that any contribution you make can save a life or lives.  Whether you have thought about it or not, suicide touches all of us in some way, and it can also be related to many other issues.  By taking the time to learn and contribute to suicide prevention, you are affecting everyone.  Your role may not save the entire world, but it can save one person’s world, which is so important.  As we go through National Suicide Prevention Month, National Suicide Prevention Week, and World Suicide Prevention Day, my hope is that you are challenged to learn more about suicide prevention.  Then, after learning more, I hope you will consider finding ways to act and spread the message of suicide prevention.  
 
The best part of suicide prevention is that there is hope and that one day there will be no suicides.  Please join me in working towards that day.

Progress Continues

Monthly update: 

Writing on my book (working title The Great Physician) continues. As of this writing I have written over 45,000 words, and I have completed around 3/4 of my first draft. I continue to enjoy the process of seeing an additional 1500 words being added each week, and I am very happy to have reached this point.
 
I also continue to read through the Bible with the goal of finishing it before the end of 2023.
 
I hope that everyone has a great August as we continue our journey through summer. Thank you for all that you continue to do to spread the message of suicide prevention.