In 2012 Montana was the first state to form a Suicide Mortality Review (SMR) Team. After volleying with Wyoming year after year for the highest suicide rate per capita in the nation, the legislature moved to do something about it on a government level. Reverend Vicki Waddington of the Lonsdale United Methodist Church in Sidney serves on that review team, made up of clergy, law enforcement, social services, mental health professionals, and coroners. Her husband, Mark Waddington, wrote a letter to the Governor recommending her for the position. Vicki Waddington, caring by nature and in the business of helping others, had been involved in suicide awareness for eight years prior to this, adamant that no one should suffer to the point of taking their own life.
Todd Bergerson, Waddington’s son, is described as a great kid with a great sense of humor. He had good friends, played football, loved biking and fireworks, and was developing a deep interest in music, playing the tuba and bass guitar and singing in the church choir.
“He had a beautiful singing voice. He used to come up behind me and flip the back of my hair…. It drove me nuts,” Waddington fondly recalls. “He was starting to grow into a teenager with a heart for other people.”
On August 31, 2000, at 13 years, 5 months, and 15 days, Todd Bergerson passed away, having died by suicide. Waddington recounts that they had no idea that anything was wrong and discussed “fogging”, a behavior displayed by many with suicidal thoughts. “Fogging” refers to seemingly normal behavior displayed in an attempt to protect those around them from knowing the truth, and to prevent burdening them with the severity of the situation.
Three years later, Waddington was asked to speak at the Jr. High School in Miles City, which happened to be on her son’s birthday, and she could see that it hit close to home for her audience; some of the students had known Bergerson.
“You could see that they needed to be allowed to grieve, ask questions, and be angry. People don’t want to talk about it but they need to, especially kids because they are too young to deal with the pain themselves. We have to be willing to learn how to talk to them because children grieve differently than adults; your grieving isn’t over when the funeral is over,” said Waddington.
Today she is part of the SMR Team, which reviews every suicide in the state and compiles information on everything from education level to relational status to the day of the week it occurred on, identifying risk factors, patterns, trends and figuring out where the ‘gaps’ are.
‘The SMR team is a statewide effort to identify factors associated with suicide in an effort to develop prevention strategies… The purpose of the review team is to determine if a suicide was preventable and the factors associated with the suicide. The prevention of suicide is both the policy of the state of Montana and a community responsibility.’ – Suicide Mortality Review Team
“There is a stigma that comes with suicide and I want to work towards ending that stigma,” Waddington stated. “This area tends to have a ‘cowboy-up’ mentality and people are always afraid of what they don’t understand, but it is an illness that can kill you just like cancer and diabetes. We work to prevent and treat those illnesses, so why not this one? This is a matter of compassion and medical science.”
According to the Summary Report for January 1, 2014 – August 31, 2014 (compiled by the SMR Team), it seems clear that so little is known about the facts of suicide, there are many common misconceptions. For instance, more than half of those that die by suicide don’t leave a note, the most common drugs in a person’s system are caffeine and tobacco, with 41% having alcohol and 9% having methamphetamines in their system. Veterans made up 28% of state-wide suicides, 40% of all suicide victims had identified mental health disorders and of those 66% suffered from depression. Males made up 85% of victims, white males ages 45-64 are the largest suicide demographic with health, mental health, and relational loss all seeming to be contributing factors and unfortunately, of all the suicides reviewed, 75% had warning signs identified. Tragically, those affected by suicide are 4-7 times more likely to die by suicide themselves.
One of the most important factors in suicide prevention is community involvement. District II Drug & Alcohol will be providing suicide first aid skills to the community through an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop. The no-cost ASIST workshop will be held June 8th and June 9th at the Assembly of God Church, 414 E Main Street in Sidney. Participants will learn how to identify suicidal behavior and will develop skills in preventing suicides. Books, materials, breakfast, and refreshments will be provided each day and continuing education credits are available. Anyone interested must register for the workshop by contacting Nicole Hackley with District II Drug and Alcohol at 406-433-4097 or emailing her at [email protected].
“People don’t know what to do and if they should take someone seriously when threats are made, but it’s better to have that person mad at you than for them to end up dead. Asking if someone is thinking about committing suicide isn’t going to put the idea in their head and if someone has a plan, a means, and an opportunity, they are in immediate danger and you need to call 911. I had no reason to believe that Todd was in danger of taking his own life because I just didn’t know what to look for. You don’t have to be someone’s best friend to help them. You just need to care enough to help someone when you see them suffering,” Waddington explained.
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