On Thursday 9/24, Project LETS facilitated Suicide is Political-- a panel discussion with Azza Altiraifi, Kelly Davis, Allilsa Fernandez, and Xochi Cartland on how suicide is deeply intertwined with the social, economic, and political aspects of our culture and capitalistic society. We analyzed and challenged the dominance of and our over-reliance on a model of biopsychiatry, and discussed how social factors and systems of oppression contribute to risk of suicide and crises. We also discussed how suicide pre/post-vention and many resources have become managed by/work in partnership with the carceral state (for example: crisis lines that engage in active rescue), and focus on mitigating liability rather than providing loving support. Project LETS recognizes that abolition, liberation, and peer-led work must be the foundation of suicide pre/post-vention.
Access: The ASL interpretation did not record in the webinar video, however, there are captions. If you have any specific access needs, please reach out to [email protected]
Your Instructor
Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu (she/they) is the Founder and Executive Director of Project LETS (Let’s Erase the Stigma); a national grassroots organization and movement led by and for folks with lived experience of mental illness/madness, Disability, trauma, and neurodivergence. Their work specializes in building peer support collectives and community mental health care structures outside of state-sanctioned systems of “care” -- grounded in principles of anti-racism and Disability/Transformative/Healing Justice. They are an active community organizer, invested in disrupting multiple systems which disproportionately discriminate, harm, and kill mentally ill, Disabled, and neurodivergent folks worldwide.