Project Summary
Suicide prevention needs an innovative vehicle to portray the message to the American teenager. Counseling is available through schools, private insurance, outreach programs, and other adult administered programs. Unfortunately, teens tune out adults and listen predominantly to their peers. Adult values and advice are typically rejected by teenagers. A non-traditional therapeutic approach is necessary to reach teens.
The education of peers will have the strongest impact on other teens. Suicide is the number three killer of teens in America. A teen documentary of the stresses, environment, depression, music, and influences of teens will be produced incorporating dramatic elements to demonstrate the triggers, motivations, and influences of the teenage mind. The film will be distributed nationwide creating a “buzz” about the Number Two killer of our teenagers. Embedded within the documentary will be sound psychological advice to potentially influence teens to choose life altering behaviors in place of suicide. A questionnaire sample of teen responses to the movie will be collected and measured. Observations will be documented. Knowledge gained will indicate if future research using this approach is warranted.
David Miller and Eric Adams, professional screenwriters, with the assistance of Mary C. Barrow, Ph. D. and Jordan Miller, teen member of Regenerate, will research and write a documentary screenplay with dramatic elements about suicidal teens overcoming suicidal ideations. The film will be produced by Los Angeles-based production company, Fast Carrier Pictures. The film will be co-directed with award-winning teen talent Jordan Miller and utilize other teen members of Regenerate, a non-profit organization of “youth helping youth.” Marketing and promotion will be by Schlesinger Advertising. This project will be completed within budget one year from date of funding. Proceeds from the documentary will be used to provide low income areas with free community screenings of the film and to fund future projects.
The main project goal is to discover if the peer helping peer method is more successful in reaching teens than traditional practices. This project may be a first step toward creating a wave of zero tolerance for suicide with teen peers. An expected result from this mind set is to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts in 2005. The mission statement is one life saved from our work is reason enough.
The project objectives is to expose 1,000,000 potentially suicidal teens to a documentary that will educate, entertain, and impart sound psychological advice while bypassing defenses that normally reject adult interference, values, or knowledge. The $650,000 budget includes administrative, screenwriting, salaries, production, and marketing costs.
Problem Statement/Needs Assessment
The daily dozen is America’s secret shame. Today there will be twelve suicides between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. There will be the same amount tomorrow. This year four thousand teens will give up their lives. In the past twenty-five years while the general incidence of suicide has decreased the rate of suicide for those between fifteen and twenty-four has tripled. (O’Connor, R., 2004). Between the ages of fifteen and nineteen suicide is the second leading cause of death. Alarmingly the rate of suicide between the ten to fourteen age groups has increased dramatically. The rate of suicide in African Americans males has increased by one hundred percent. (NAMI, 2004). Clearly, a new approach is long overdue.
Counseling is available through schools, private insurance, outreach programs, and other adult administered programs. Unfortunately, teens tune out adults and listen predominantly to their peers. Adult values and advice are typically rejected by teenagers.
A non-traditional therapeutic approach is necessary to reach teens. The education of peers will have the strongest impact on other teens.
This nationwide program is designed to create a zero tolerance for suicide through an entertaining film utilizing teen talent in all production aspects. Youth helping youth works from a teen perspective, not an adult perspective.
Although endorsed locally, community funding is inadequate. A grant from a major donor is required. A great potential for change in teen thinking, communication, and knowledge is expected. A cultural shift to zero tolerance of suicide is the program director’s hope.
In 1996, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among college students, the third-leading cause of death among those aged 15-24 years, and the fourth-leading cause of death among those aged 10-14 years. (NAMI.org- The Nation’s Voice on Mental Illness, 2004)
In 1996, more teenagers and young adults died of suicide than from cancer...disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, and influenza, and chronic disease combined. (NAMI.org- The Nation’s Voice on Mental Illness, 2004)
Firearms are the most common method of suicide by youth. (Menstuff.org- Youth Suicide by Firearms Task Force [11/96], 2004)
The most common location for the occurrence of firearm suicides by youth is in the home (Brent et al., 1993). (Menstuff.org- Youth Suicide by Firearms Task Force [11/96], 2004)
Nearly 60 percent of all attempted suicides are committed with a firearm. (NAMI.org- The Nation’s Voice on Mental Illness, 2004)
If a gun is used to attempt suicide, a fatal outcome will result 78% to 90% of the time (Annest et al., 1995; Card, 1974). (Menstuff.org- Youth Suicide by Firearms Task Force [11/96], 2004)
This year at least 700,000 high school students will attempt suicide- one in every 13 high school students in the United States. (One In Thirteen: The Silent Epidemic of Teen Suicide by Jessica Portner, 2004)
Teenage girls attempt suicide at a rate three times that of boys... (One in Thirteen: The Silent Epidemic of Teen Suicide by Jessica Portner, 2004)
Sometimes teens try alcohol or other drugs to relieve depression. Unfortunately the drugs themselves have a depressant effect, and lower inhibitions against self-injurious behavior. Some young people who have never expressed a suicidal thought have taken their own lives when they got drunk to ease the pain of a disappointment or loss. But they only felt worse while drunk, and committed a rash, impulsive act which they wouldn’t have done sober. (Teen Suicide by Richard O’Connor, Ph.D., 2004)
In a study of 146 adolescent friends of 26 adolescent suicide victims, teens living in single-parent families are not only more likely to commit suicide, but also more likely to suffer from psychological disorders, when compared to teens living in intact families. (Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collection, 2004)
Three out of four teenage suicides occur in households where a parent has been absent. (Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collection, 2004)
Two-thirds of all suicides under 25 were committed with firearms (accounts for most of the increase in suicides from 1980 to 1992). The second most common method was hanging, third was poisoning. (Menstuff.org- Teen Suicide, 2004)
Suicide is increasing, particularly for those under 14. (Menstuff.org- Teen Suicide, 2004)
The Department of Health study indicates that gay youth are up to six times more likely to attempt suicide than straight teens, and gay teenagers account for up to 30 percent of all teenage suicides in the nation. (Menstuff.org- Teen Suicide, 2004)
Though some depressed teens may first attempt suicide around age 13 or 14, suicide attempts are highest during middle adolescence. (KidsHealth.org/Suicide- Different Types of Suicidal Behaviors, 2004)
Eight out of ten people who commit suicide tell someone before that they are thinking about hurting themselves before they actually do it. (NoSuicide.com, Teenage Suicide “Myths and Facts,” 2004)
Out of every 5 people who complete suicide, 4 have made a previous attempt. (NoSuicide.com, Teenage Suicide “Myths and Facts,” 2004)
According to the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), 12 young people between the ages of 15-24 die every day by suicide. (FocusAs.com/Suicide, A Look At Teen Suicide: Reading This May Save Someone You Know, 2004).
Goals and Objectives
The main project goal is to discover if the peer helping peer method is more successful in reaching teens than traditional practices. This project may be a first step toward creating a wave of zero tolerance for suicide with teen peers. An expected result from this mind set is to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts in 2005. The mission statement is one life saved from our work is reason enough.
The project objectives is to expose 1,000,000 potentially suicidal teens to a documentary that will educate, entertain, and impart sound psychological advice while bypassing defenses that normally reject adult interference, values, or knowledge.
Cast includes actors
Joe Mantegna (The Godfather Part III),
David Carradine (Kill Bill Part 2),
Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan) and Saturday Night Live’s
Harry Shearer and
Nora Dunn have joined the cast of My Suicide, which marks the theatrical feature debut of an extraordinary young man -
Gabriel Sunday (Now You See It) of Petaluma, California – who at 20 is already an experienced actor, stand-up comic, gifted impressionist, world-class magician and experienced filmmaker (Regenerate, 2006).
Other Funding Sources
Any agency, corporate, or private gift is an appropriate source for full funding and deserves the recognition that an innovative research project approach will bring in the media and with the public. Please make checks payable to
Regenerate.
Dr. Molly Barrow SUICIDE PREVENTION GRANTDavid Miller, Executive Director
Regenerate
Village Glen Plaza
2899 Agoura Road, #268
Westlake Village, CA 91361
805-495-9709 or877-BY-YOUTH
For more information on the film My Suicide or suicide prevention please visit
www.regenerate.org. Thank you.
TOTAL POST PRODUCTION
$ 182,500.00
GRAND TOTAL:
$ 650,000.00
Supporting Documentation Questionnaire
Have you known anyone who committed suicide?
What relationship was the person to you?
Have you ever thought about committing suicide?
Have you ever attempted suicide?
Did you seek professional help?
Did you tell anyone?
Has anyone ever told you they wanted to commit suicide or made you think that they were going to?
What did you do?
Did you like the movie?
Did you learn something about helping yourself or someone else chose life over suicide?
What helped the most?
Did the movie change your opinion about suicide?
Would you be willing to support a no tolerance attitude for suicide for your friends?
Would you be willing to support a no tolerance attitude of suicide for all kids?
Because of this movie are you more likely to have a no tolerance attitude for suicide for yourself?
BIO:
Dr. Molly Barrow holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is the author of the new book, “Matchlines: A Revolutionary New Way of Looking at Relationships and Making the Right Choices in Love,” ISBN 159507158X. She is an authority on relationship and psychological topics, a member of the American Psychological Association and a licensed mental health counselor. Dr. Molly has appeared as an expert in the film, My Suicide, documentaries Ready to Explode and KTLA Impact, NBC news, PBS In Focus, WBZT talk radio and in O Magazine, Psychology Today, Newsday, The Nest, MSN.com, Yahoo, Match.com, N Magazine, Women’s Health and Women’s World. Please visit: http://www.askdrmolly.com
http://www.DrMollyBarrow.com/
To read articles by Dr. Molly please visit: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Molly_Barrow
