In recent weeks, Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” has captivated audiences of all ages across the country. While the show sheds light on serious mental health issues, the intense subject matter has schools and mental health professionals calling for extra caution when watching.

The show, “13 Reasons Why,” based on a bestselling book, follows Hannah, a teenager who recently committed suicide. Hannah leaves behind 13 tapes for those who contributed to her decision to take her own life.
“I can’t think of another show that talked about suicide like this,” said Shelly Simpson, LCSW, LCDCI, clinical social worker and chemical dependency counselor at Menninger’s Pathfinder Community Integration Program.
At Pathfinder, Simpson works with teens and young adults who are recovering from depression, substance abuse and other mental health disorders as they transition into living on their own and becoming independent. Simpson has discussed the show with some of her patients who have attempted suicide.
“I have some patients who think the show is stupid, and they say, ‘Oh, no one would ever do that,'” Simpson said. “And a lot of the patients I work with won’t watch it because it is too intense for them. These are patients who are maybe four to eight months outside of a suicide attempt and they are still processing.”
The graphic nature of some of the scenes in “13 Reasons Why” has raised concerns about it being too much to handle for teens or for viewers who have experienced trauma. One of the most controversial scenes is when the main character, Hannah, commits suicide on the show.
“I think that the show alluded to it enough, we didn’t need it to be shown to know that it happened,” Simpson said. “People oftentimes are afraid to start talking about suicide because they think it will give people the idea to do it. I don’t think that talking about it does that, but showing it is something that can be traumatic to people … I think it was unnecessary to show that.”
Additionally, mental health workers, educators and parents are concerned that teens may not be able to fully process what they are watching, and that portions of the show glamorize suicide and normalize drug and alcohol use.
“As a mental health professional, I know suicide is not glamorous—the devastation it leaves in people’s lives is not glamourous,” Simpson said. “That doesn’t happen when someone takes their life. There are not these 13 tapes that we leave people. Oftentimes it’s the people themselves left to do the reeling about why did that happen, what did I miss? What signs was that person trying to show me?”
For Simpson, she recommends parents, friends, siblings and loved ones pay attention to changes in behavior, mood shifts, changes in grades, or loss of interest in a sport or hobby they used to enjoy. She also reminds us all to listen.
“I love when shows like this come out, because it can be such a conversation starter and a safe way for kids to voice their opinions,” Simpson said.
Although she does think the show has opportunities to grow in the second season, Simpson is thankful that it has helped to get the important conversation of mental health awareness and suicide awareness in the open.
“I was reflecting on how many people I have heard in the last month say the word suicide which is such a ‘we don’t say that’ word,’” Simpson said. “I’ve heard teenagers I work with say it, I’ve heard friends that aren’t in the mental health industry say it, and it’s interesting. It is a word that we, as a society, are afraid to utter and [the show] has gotten people all over the place saying it.”

TMC Pulse
By Britni Riley

If you or someone you know are struggling with the thought of suicide, you can call the Crisis Intervention hotline at 832-416-1117, for Teen Talk 832-416-1199 and they are also available to text. 281-201-4430.

Goal of Men’s Health Month?

The purpose of Men’s Health Month is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys. This month gives health care providers, public policy makers, the media, and individuals an opportunity to encourage men and boys to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury. The response has been overwhelming with thousands of awareness activities in the USA and around the globe.

Whether it is your friend, brother, dad, boyfriend, spouse, or boss, show them you care about them and their health by wearing blue. If Friday of Men’s Health Week doesn’t work for you then pick any other day of the year and start a fun Wear BLUE day at work.

Host a Wear BLUE day to raise awareness and money for education about men’s need to seek regular checkups, or testicular cancer education, prostate cancer education, or other health issues that affect men. (Cardiovascular disease, skin cancer, lung cancer, diabetes, gout, and more.)
Men live sicker and die younger. Wear BLUE was created by Men’s Health Network to raise awareness about the importance of male health and to encourage men to live longer and healthier lives.
Men’s health awareness can mean many different things.
It means raising awareness of making healthy lifestyle choices, making regular annual visits to the doctor, getting educated on heart disease or diabetes, starting general health conversations with their male friends, and much more. The information, tools, and resources on this website can help you plan an impactful Wear BLUE event where you live, work, play, and pray.

#ShowUsYourBlue

By Britni Riley | June 08, 2017

Five days into their roughly 70-day journey to Alaska, Texas 4000’s Team Ozarks made a pit stop in Houston to spend the day with pediatric oncology patients at The University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Center and to drop off a $65,000 check to further MD Anderson’s cancer research.
Started in 2004 by Chris and Mandy Condit, Texas 4000 is a challenging 18-month program for students at The University of Texas at Austin. Not only do riders train throughout the year and cycle 4,000 miles to Alaska over the summer, but they also log dozens of hours of volunteering and raise money for cancer research.
“No distance is too great to travel, no hardship is too great to endure to achieve our goal to end cancer,” said Marshall E. Hicks, M.D., interim president of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “That sounds familiar because our patients have the same goal. Many come from long distances and many endure great hardships in their journey and they all look to us to us to help them achieve that goal to end cancer. I thank the riders for going on this journey to help us achieve our goal.”
One Texas 4000 alumnus is personally familiar with the hardships cancer patients face. Bucky Ribbeck, a third-year medical student at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School, participated in the 2013 Texas 4000. He received cancer treatment at MD Anderson.
“I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma when I was in high school. I went to Strake Jesuit just down the road, and I was a pitcher for the baseball team,” Ribbeck said. “This was a curveball for me. It was a solid tumor in my pitching arm, and after interviewing several doctors, Dr. Valerae Lewis at MD Anderson ended up operating on my arm. She has really become a mentor for me today.”
After recovering, Ribbeck enrolled at UT Austin and stayed very active in the cancer community, but he felt there was more he could do.
“The ride gave me back an athletic element that I had lost after baseball,” Ribbeck said. “To be able to give back to the people who made sure that I am alive here today, to be able to give back to MD Anderson and see where it’s all going is incredible.”
As a third-year medical student, Ribbeck is beginning a surgical oncology rotation at MD Anderson. He hopes to work in pediatrics when he graduates, possibly with an emphasis in hematology or oncology.
During the Texas 4000 journey, the riders split up into three groups to make their way to Anchorage by way of the Sierras, the Rockies and the Ozarks. The Sierra route takes riders through West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, then heads north up the California, Oregon and Washington coasts and into British Columbia and the Yukon before finally reaching Alaska. The riders on the Rockies route travel through North Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. The route then heads into the Canadian provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon before making its way into Alaska. The newest and final group of riders begin their journey in East Texas moving through Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, before crossing the international border into Canada, traveling through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon.
The 4,000-mile journey takes about 70 days for the riders on each route to complete, during which time they are responsible for providing their own food, shelter and support. Along each route, riders stop in cities to share their reasons for riding, provide messages of prevention and early detection and deliver checks to cancer research institutions.
The check riders presented to MD Anderson Wednesday completed their $1.5 million donation to the hospital to continue the efforts of eliminating cancer.