Monthly Archives: November 2012

Introducing ‘activism’

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I think the academic sections of the website are pretty self-explanatory. But I feel that my use of the term ‘activism’ for my other activities requires some introduction/explanation. So copied here is the ‘About Activism‘ page …

About Activism

Widespread fears of an apocalyptic future elicit equally dangerous responses: nihilistic thoughts and decadent lifestyles that accelerate environmental destruction, or fundamentalist intolerance that exacerbates social-political conflict. The only safe approach to suspicions of the apocalypse is adaptation through activism. (Richard Eckersley*)

In his article (which I urge you to read – find link below) Eckersley talks of the “hope and creative energy of activism” in contrast to the “decadence and degeneracy of nihilism” and the “dogma and rigidity of fundamentalism”.

This notion of activism is the best word I have for what I’ve been doing since (and indeed during) my PhD work. My PhD was primarily motivated by wanting to bring spirituality into the discourse around suicide and suicide prevention. OK, this was always going to be tough within academia, though we sort of got there on the end. But I was not prepared for the brick wall of dogma and prejudice that I found in contemporary Suicidology, and also in the field of mental health more generally, and then, even more widely, in the campaign for the rights of all people with disabilities.

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Keeping in touch with Thinking About Suicide

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If you’d like to keep in touch with the conversation at our blog, Let’s talk about suicide, you can click on the ‘Follow Blog by Email’ on the right sidebar.  You will be asked for an email address and then a message will be sent to you to confirm your request.  You will then receive emails whenever a new discussion (new post) is made to the blog – I’m not sure if you’ll receive emails for any/all comments made on posts (we’ll both learn as we proceed).

The emails you get will also have links where you can change your settings for receiving emails from the blog – not many options here, just whether you want to receive messages immediately or just a daily or weekly post of activity on the blog.

You don’t need to ‘Follow’ the blog in order to participate in our discussions.  If you want to comment on a post made on the blog then you will be asked for a name (a nickname is OK) and your email address.  Your very first comment will be moderated – i.e. require admin approval before it’s visible on the blog.  After that, the blog is not moderated so all your comments will be visible immediately.

I hope this relaxed approach will work OK so that I don’t have to moderate all comments.  Please read the ‘Blogging Guide‘ for some further guidelines on using the blog.

You can also get in touch with me directly using the ‘Contact‘ page, which will send me an email that only I will see.

I look forward  to meeting you in our blog-space, Let’s talk about suicide …

Welcome

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After more than a year, here it finally is – the new, improved Thinking About Suicide website.  My apologies to those who have visited over the last year or so and found it dormant – partly due to laziness on my, partly to some technical problems, and partly to some protracted health problems.

But here it is.  You’ll still find here everything that was on the old website, plus some new stuff as well as a major re-design of the look-and-feel.  And now also – finally – we have an operational blog called Let’s talk about suicide.

You’ll see that some parts of the website are still incomplete, which I’ll flesh out in the weeks and months ahead.  But it will never be totally complete as some sections will be continually added to – which will announced in our blog as they arise.

I hope to have some dear colleagues/comrades/friends as an informal ‘advisory committee’ for additions and amendments to the website. But I also welcome any suggestions or ideas from you – either through the blog or through the ‘Contact’ page.

It’s good to be back … I look forward to hearing from you at our blog, Let’s talk about suicide …