ISP in the news

Erie Times News - Article
Aftermath of a tragedy
A month after a fatal standoff in Corry, cleanup of house continues
By EMILY BABAY
emily.babay@timesnews.com
Published: June 08. 2008 | Read full story |

ISP went to Alaska this past April to teach suicide awareness and its prevention.

The president of ISP went to Alaska this past April to teach suicide awareness, and its prevention. During his stay is was the invited guest of the United States Army on Fort Wainwright military base. | Press release |

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

Thousands of lives are going to be changed through this educational event.

Workshop "Happiness is a choice", April 23, 2008
North Star Borough School District Assistant Principles, Administrators & Gen. Public
Fairbanks, Alaska

Last year, over 6,000 vets committed suicide, over 17 per day!
Over 2,000 active duty personnel attempted suicide in 2007!
121 active duty military men and women committed suicide in 2007!
Please, support ISP's efforts and make a donation to assure our continued success!

Special report on Investigation Discovery Channel
ISP is the only national organization that assists families after a suicide
financially to cleanup a suicide scene. Please help us, help them.

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is always three years behind in its reporting, and situations that cause suicide have not gotten better in this country, there are at least 89 suicides every day in the United States of America. Among those 89 suicides, 80% are being cleaned up by a family member solely due to the fact that they do not have insurance, or the money to have the suicide scene cleaned professionally. The average cost to have a suicide scene cleaned is $1,500.00.

ISP has suicide cleaning kits that cost $25.00 each. | Suicide Kit |

When you let the figures sink in that are being reported by the CDC, our work seems overwhelming, a gauntlet. We believe in working smarter, not harder, so we have a network of national volunteers that work with local law enforcement agencies around the country, and they are called trauma scene specialists. These individuals are counselors and clergymen that are employed through other organizations. When they are responding to a trauma scene involving a suicide and determine a need, they contact us, and they are called our Point of Contacts (POC).

Within hours of a family experiencing a suicide, after an assessment of the situation we authorize a company to clean the scene, put the surviving family members in temporary housing, and arrange for counseling. This is how our organization works on such a large scale with limited resources, and employees, keeping the hard assets available for those in the greatest of need.

University of North Texas interviews president of ISP

Study in progress on attempted suicide's, and near-death experiences, by one of nations largest colleges!

"Up to now, every year in the U.S., 1 in 100,000 people has committed suicide. Of those who survive a suicide attempt, 1 in 10 have gone on to "succeed" at suicide. However, if, in their suicide attempt, a person had a near-death experience (NDE), research suggests that they are at virtually zero chance of attempting again. In the majority of known cases, the reason is not that they experienced "judgment" or "punishment" for attempting. Rather, it is because they acquired from their NDE's the conviction that each person's life has meaning and purpose, and that life's challenges are not meant to be avoided or escaped from but, rather, are meant to be faced and managed for their potential to advance the spiritual development--such as increased compassion--of the person and/or their associates. Suicide NDEr's tend to become activists in suicide prevention, primarily through commitment to, and advocacy for, life's meaning and purpose.

Research also has indicated that simply learning about NDE's can have many of the same effects as actually having had one. Putting these research findings together, Dr. Jan Holden at the University of North Texas, a recent past-president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, is working with a doctoral student, Tip Robertson, and a professor of videography, Dr. Cliff Whitworth, to create a suicide prevention video/DVD based on interviews with suicide NDEr's. Three of these survivors--two men and a woman; two European-American and one Hispanic--each describe the unique circumstances of their suicide attempts--one in childhood, the other two in early adulthood. They also discuss the lessons they each learned from their NDE's--lessons that, when heard together, are eerily similar, lending collective weight to their individual testimonials about the value of each person and of life. Years after their suicide attempts, these people now live gratifying lives--not of fame and fortune, but of deep personal meaning. Both they and their messages stand as testimony to the value of living life fully until death comes naturally.

The program is currently in production. Once it is completed, Dr. Holden will embark on a series of research studies to determine its potential as a suicide prevention tool."

Janice Holden, Ed.D., LPC-S, LMFT, NCC
Professor, Counseling Program
Interim Chair
Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Early Childhood Education
College of Education
University of North Texas
P.O. Box 310829
Denton, TX 76203-0829
ph 940-565-2919
fax 940-565-2905
holden@coe.unt.edu
http://www.coe.unt.edu/chec/coun/faculty/Jan_Holden.php
http://www.iands.org

In a follow up to last seasons 20/20 TV show on near-death experiences where people have experienced heavenly visions, ABC’s 20/20 is now documenting people that have claimed that there is a much darker, less talked about near-death experiences of Hell.

Matthew Dovel, a local resident of Henderson, Nevada has a best-selling life after death book “My Last Breath” published in 2003, telling his account of two near-death experiences, where in one he went to heaven and the other to Hell. ABC’s 20/20 will be taping Mr. Dovel’s account starting January 21, 2007, and it’s due to air in the summer of 2007.

ABC’s 20/20 producers have found Mr. Dovel’s story particularly interesting not because of his claim to have been in Hell for three days, but that his life has taken such a drastic change afterwards. Mr. Dovel once having a thousand-dollar-a-week drug habit now is the president of Intl. Suicide Prevention, Inc. a non-profit international organization that promotes public awareness and family support relating to suicide.

Not only did Mr. Dovel quit a thousand-dollar-a-week drug habit cold turkey, but since then he has dedicated his life to helping the truly hopeless over the past twenty years. Mr. Dovel say’s, “I was literally scared straight!”

Tracking Mr. Dovel down is not so easy now-a-days because he is not the type of individual that sits in an office talking about what he has done to help others, as he is out doing it, on a daily basis. Mr. Dovel said, “Most people in the past truly have not wanted to see me coming, and this is because of one of three things: I’m either coming to talk to someone that is having suicidal thoughts, someone has just committed suicide and I’m on my way to help the family, or (the worst of the three), I’m asking for financial support for our organization.” On the other hand, we have started a very ambitious new campaign that began on January 1, 2007, where we give freely to thousands of people every day a message of hope.

“This Sign is 4U,” campaign to be featured on 20/20. Small and large signs placed in and around Las Vegas, Nevada in conspicuous places near intersections, bus stops, and highways where thousands of commuters pass by everyday are designed to promote positive behavior and better mental health. Messages such as “Never Give Up!” and “Happiness is a Choice!” could be the only thing standing between a choice for someone to end their life or to live that day.

One of two emotions will motivate a person in life the most and they are love, or fear! Changing an individual from a hopeless drug addict into a humanitarian would have to take a fear most have never experienced, or would want to experience.

Is there a Hell? I guess you will have to decide for yourself after watching the interview with Mr. Dovel this July 13 on ABC’s 20/20.

Help for the holidays

Nonprofit group dedicated to suicide prevention and helping families move on

When 16-year-old Brittany Kish committed suicide in Clark County's Juvenile Detention Center on April 11, 2005, her mother, Lynette Kish, wasn't there to deal with the situation.

If her daughter had taken her life at home rather than in county custody, Kish would have been faced with a horrifying prospect -- cleaning up after Brittany's death.

It's a situation that Las Vegas resident Matthew Dovel, founder and president of the nonprofit organization International Suicide Prevention, Inc., has volunteered to deal with time after time. In addition to offering suicide prevention information, his organization helps those who have lost a family member to suicide deal with the aftermath and continue with their lives.

Dovel said ISP's mission is to educate the public about suicide awareness and prevention. The nonprofit also provides support to friends and family members of suicides by helping cover the costs of suicide scene clean up and temporary housing while clean up is underway.

"After a suicide, only family members or certified personnel are legally allowed to clean up," a suicide scene, Dovel said. Witnessing and cleaning up that sort of scene can cause extreme guilt and distress, which can perpetuate the cycle of suicide, he said.

"Eighty percent of in-house suicides are cleaned up by a family member," he said. "It is a horrific thing to have to clean up. It can really mentally affect people to have to see their loved one like that."

On average, it costs about $1,500 to have a suicide scene cleaned up, Dovel said. ISP helps pay those costs up to $10,000, and helps provide lodging at a hotel while clean up is underway and pays for counseling for family members.

"We also try to help with bills and that sort of thing, especially if money was part of the problem," he said.

Dovel also will go to the scene of a suicide to lend emotional support to friends and family members.

"The scene of a suicide isn't Hollywood, it's not glamorous," he said. "It's grotesque. Just seeing it is enough to disturb anyone."

"Brittany did it in juvenile hall, so I didn't find her. I can't even imagine what parents or family members are going through if they've found that," Kish said. "(Dovel) deals with that, and thank God."

Kish said she had visited Dovel's Web site repeatedly during the past year, though she only contacted him about two months ago.

Kish organized an Out of the Darkness walk through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on Dec. 2, and invited Dovel to speak during the event.

"He's a great guy and he's trying to make a big difference," she said. "I like the way he goes about what he does ... suicide is something people don't want to talk about because it is depressing, it is bad, but at the same time ... it needs to be talked about."

Kish said she finds it important that Dovel tries to make suicide awareness and prevention events educational .

"That's what it should be about. The subject is so controversial, so stigmatized ... at the same time, you can't just focus on (how) it's so sad," she said. "His biggest thing is about (how) you're not alone. About hope, about there's someone there for you. You're worth something and don't ever forget that. That's where he kind of goes, and I think it's kind of cool."

Dovel said two near-death experiences inspired him to become involved with suicide prevention. When he was 12, he drowned in a neighbor's pool but was revived.

In his teens, Dovel developed drug and alcohol addictions, and attempted suicide in 1987.

"At that point I quit drugs cold turkey, and I've been off them for 19-plus years," he said. "Now I've dedicated my life to helping people get off drugs and to preventing suicide."

In 2003, Dovel published his autobiography, "My Last Breath," and since then, he has worked as a suicide prevention expert. In addition to starting ISP, Dovel has worked with the military, American Indian tribes and local schools teaching suicide prevention, and also works as a public speaker and life coach.

Eventually, Dovel's suicide prevention efforts became a financial strain and he decided to form ISP. In June, the group received nonprofit status and is sustained almost entirely by a network of volunteers.

Dovel said there is an average of one suicide per day in the Las Vegas Valley, though he said that number is about average compared to similar sized cities.

Through ISP, Dovel also gives lectures and talks, and leads classes at local high schools to discuss suicide prevention. ISP also is working on a positive mental health campaign expected to begin in January.

"We're getting a license plate with the message 'Never Give Up,' and we're going to place signs along roads with similar, uplifting messages," he said. "Driving around in heavy traffic can be stressful, and the signs and license plates will be a positive message. It's part of our campaign to lower stress levels in general."

The organization's Web site also provides information and tips regarding suicide and suicide prevention.

"They're basically simple suggestions for leading a good life," he said. "Eating well, spending time with friends and family and talking to them and having a goal list for your life, whether you're young or old are all important things."

Dovel suggests everyone should keep a list of at least five goals they are working toward, and a list of 20 things that make them happy.

"Even if it's just something like the taste of vanilla ice cream, it's something to look at when you're feeling down and it helps you get something happy in mind," he said. "If you're depressed, you need to read that list every day."

In the future, Dovel hopes to establish programs like the one he teaches in local high schools for distribution on a national level, as well as programs for the elderly in conjunction with local hospitals. He also is hoping to begin work on a documentary aimed at examining suicide on a global level.

In the meantime, he's working on expanding local prevention efforts and getting more volunteers and donations for ISP.

For Kish, simply bringing attention to the reality of suicide is Dovel's greatest accomplishment.

"That's how I think he's saving lives, is getting the word out there, period," she said.

For more information about suicide prevention and ISP, visit www.supportisp.com.

Matthew Dovel, the president and founder of ISP will be doing a radio interview on the "The Amie Jo Show" live November 14, 2006 at 4:20 pm.

The show is one hour and at least 30 minutes of the show will be dedicated to ISP and our Holiday Black Tie Charity Event being held on December 12, 2006 at 7:00 pm | click here for more information |. The Amie Jo Show airs “Live” in the Las Vegas Metropolis, where there are potentially 1.7 million people listening to each airing. The show also streams live worldwide via the Internet on the radio station’s website at www.klav1230am.com. It also airs in Bermuda, Phoenix, New Mexico and Colorado through syndication.

If you would like to participate during this broadcast, you can call in with your questions or comments at 702-731-1230; our toll free number is 866-820-5528.