Thinking the Other Side of Youth Suicide: Engagements With Life

Abstract

Despite a vast and growing body of published empirical literature on this topic and a recent profusion of new prevention programs, suicide continues to be the second leading cause of death among young people in Canada. Current knowledge about preventing suicide and suicidal behaviours among youth is extremely limited and thus the call for greater diversity and creativity in our theories and practices is more vital than ever. The purpose of this article is to open up new spaces for critical and innovative thinking about suicide and suicide prevention, with a particular focus on youth populations and those who work with youth. Post-structural theory is mobilized in the critique of dominant biomedical conceptualizations of suicide in order to create new spaces for thinking suicide otherwise, and to mobilize opportunities for youth to think with adults in the exploration of life affirming alternatives. Working against any final or authoritative impulse to determine "what suicide is", we draw on theoretical and ontological frameworks that privilege difference, complexity, multiplicity, movement, and contradictions. This article is an invitation to engage with life in its creative, playful, and affirmative character; to seek joy, hope and a future in thinking suicide otherwise.Keywords: suicide, suicide prevention, critique, youth, prevention, post-structuralism Acknowledgements: The authors are extremely grateful for the helpful comments from one of the anonymous reviewers who challenged us to deepen and sharpen our analysis. We believe it has enhanced the piece considerably.

Que(e)rying Youth Suicide: Sexism, Racism, and Violence in Skim and 13 Reasons Why

“…8 Indeed, these saneist understandings of suicide are operationalized through professional fields such as psychology, psychiatry, and clinic social work whereby the problem of 'suicide' is operationalized as a deficit-something in need of fixing, curing, or stopping. As Kouri and White note, under the auspice of suicide intervention adult 'professionals' are often preoccupied with and mandated to address suicide through the lens of prevention 9 . Kouri and White argue that this focus on 'prevention,' which can preclude helping professionals from engaging with the everyday inequalities' youth are required to live within and endure, often constrains the ways psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers can address structural and cultural domains of suicide.…”

Mann-Feder

“…Yet suicide risk (or illness) is fluid, dynamic, and a "messy problem" (White, 2012) that depends in part on time and context. As such, responding to suicidality in youth also requires other approaches, such as the application of relational knowledge (Ranahan, 2013) and life-affirming activities (Kouri & White, 2014). Thus there is a need to expand youth services "beyond a single-problem behaviour focus [i.e., illness] and for considering program effects on a range of positive and problem behaviours [i.e., wellness]", including the need for "interventions that involve several social domains" (Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins, 2004, p. 101).…”

An Ethos for the Times: Difference, Imagination, and the Unknown Future in Child and Youth Care

“…Part of this effort will entail generating new questions, visions, and vocabularies for rethinking a changing world. For example, this could include advancing new ways of theorizing the self; enlarging our ethical vision; and complicating and politicizing our current notions of practice and research in CYC (Kouri, 2014;Kouri & White, 2014;Pacini-Ketchabaw & Pence, 2011;Skott-Myhre & Little, 2014;White, 2007). This work will inevitably involve disruption, change, and new ways of doing things.…”