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The Connection Between FORCING SMILES and Suicide Prevention Efforts, by Brian Jost, 12/21/2025.
This document may be available online at: https://forcingsmiles.com/suicide-prevention
Audio of this writing is available to listen to in the “Eureka Point Lighthouse” podcast (episode #26): https://eurekapointlighthouse.com/ep-026-suicide-prevention
As I have been preparing for the next FORCING SMILES show coming up soon on 12/23/2025, I have been overwhelmed by how much I want to use the opportunity of being on stage with a microphone to talk about the topics of mental health recovery and suicide prevention programs that are saving lives every day. There is so much I want to say, and while it’s important information, and intended to serve as an overall message of hope for recovery for those in crisis, I worry that I will talk too much and cause a distraction from the music. I also worry that I will trigger someone emotionally by talking about the sensitive topic of suicide prevention. I have decided to try to talk very little at the show and direct people to this document for more information.
Before moving on to the story of how my music connects to suicide prevention efforts, I want to list some of my favorite mental health and suicide prevention resources and organizations.
- SUICIDE AND CRISIS HOTLINE (call or text) 988: For both a person in crisis and any form of caregiver needing guidance with helping someone in crisis. https://988lifeline.org/
- NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness):Mental health education, support, advocacy: https://namimn.org/ see also national level NAMI at https://www.nami.org/
- Face It Foundation: Face It was founded in 2009 with the goal to help men understand and recover from depression, and reduce the rate of male suicide. We provide men’s support groups, one-on-one peer support, outreach events, public education, and training for mental health professionals. https://www.faceitfoundation.org/
- SAVE – Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, a national nonprofit working to prevent the tragedy of suicide through education, advocacy, lethal means safety efforts, and support for suicide loss survivors. https://www.save.org/
- QPR Institute: QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. Learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. https://qprinstitute.com/
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/
I also have a longer background story that covers my psychiatric hospitalizations in 2005, 2006, and 2009, including my first psychosis in 2009, in my 2010 self-published memoir “Grounded by Bipolar Disorder; One Pilot’s Landing” (available in print, e-book/kindle, and audiobook). Click HERE to find the book on Amazon and Audible. I have learned so much more since finishing that memoir in 2010 about mental health recovery, suicide prevention, and available resources.
From Suicidal Ideation to the Therapy That Is Helping Me Share My Music, and Effective Suicide Prevention Programming
I began playing guitar in 1996 at the age of 21 while at college studying aeronautics and commercial aviation. Music was fun, easy, felt natural, and it played a big role in my social life. It made sense to me that I would share my music with friends and family. It felt right that music was in my life. Music continued to feel great for about nine years. Then in 2005, after my first obvious major depression in 2005 that included clear and intense suicidal ideation, I began taking an anti-depressant which lifted my mood into my first full-blown manic episode. I was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit where I received the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, type 1.
I was given new medications, anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers, to stop the mania, and hopefully keep me from dropping down into another depression. Initially, I was over-medicated with medications that were not the correct fit for my brain. My music and creativity died abruptly. The change was so drastic that I thought it was permanent. I assumed that if the medications I was given to stop the mania also stopped my music and creativity from flowing, then the music and creativity must just be part of mania, and therefore, music and creativity are dangerous and unhealthy. I learned to fear my own music and creativity. It’s a fear I am still battling to this day.
Over the years, as medications were adjusted, my music and creativity slowly returned, but mostly felt somehow stuck or limited. Then, abruptly, over a couple weeks in January of 2019, music poured out of me freely as I experienced a severe depression which led me to believe that my suicide was inevitable. I believed that suicide was the only way that I would die, and that it would just be a matter of time before it happened. The majority of the music that flowed out during that depression became the first FORCING SMILES album “Making Room” (13 songs, released September 2024).
Fortunately, I was able to talk about those false suicidal beliefs with supportive people, and I got the help I needed. For me, the most effective specific form of help was Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
While the overall main goal of DBT is to BUILD A LIFE WORTH LIVING, the four main topics of DBT are:
- Mindfulness
- Distress Tolerance
- Emotion Regulation
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
For me, DBT taught me what to do with my thoughts of suicide (or suicidal ideation). With my focus being on how to manage my thoughts of suicide, as I attempted to build a life worth living, a byproduct of DBT for me was that I realized how much I was missing music and how fearful I was of my own music and creativity. It became clear to me that I could use DBT to face my own music, let music be a part of my life, and to share my music with my family, friends, and the world.
It took almost two and a half years after setting the goal in DBT of sharing my music to actually performing my original music at my first open mic. I had a friend named Al who pushed me to perform and share my music. He attended my first open mic on 11/28/2022 and was very supportive. I performed two songs. I wrote a bit about the experience in a blog post:
Blog post title: #37, Mission Accomplished; My First Open Mic
https://eurekapointlighthouse.com/37-mission-accomplished-my-first-open-mic/
Tragically, 10 months after Al attended my first open mic, he died by suicide on September 28, 2023. I don’t think a day has passed since I learned of his death that I haven’t thought about him. It’s especially obvious to me that I am thinking about him every time I return to the open mic venue to perform another song. I remember which table he sat at, and which chair he was in, as he filmed my first performance. I miss him, and I wish I had known he was struggling.
On 12/09/2025, I observed a suicide prevention presentation offered by NAMI Minnesota called “QPR” an acronym for “Question, Persuade, and Refer.” QPR was developed by the QPR Institute (https://qprinstitute.com/ ), and teaches people:
- How to appropriately and effectively ask a person who may be in crisis the
“suicide question”… how to ask if they are experiencing thoughts of suicide.
- How to effectively persuade the person in crisis to accept help.
- How to refer the person in crisis to specific help (taking steps to contact help, schedule appointments, and possibly even bringing the person to the help they need.
The overall tone of a QPR presentation is what I believe to be the positive messages that:
- Suicide is the most preventable type of death.
- Proper help exists.
- Proven, evidence-based methods of intervention such as QPR can save lives.
Some of the contents of a 60 to 90 minute QPR presentation includes (this is just a small sample of the info in the presentation. Please attend a full presentation):
- Statistics about suicide, some of which includes:
- In the United States alone, a person dies by suicide every 13 minutes.
- In the United States alone, over 40,000 people die by suicide each year.
- Worldwide, over 800,000 people die by suicide.
- For every life lost, another 25 suicide attempts are made leading to many serious long-term medical and disability problems.
- Myths and Facts about suicide, some of which are:
- MYTH – No one can stop a suicide. It is inevitable.
- FACT – If people in a crisis get the help they need, they will probably never be suicidal again.
- MYTH – Confronting a person about suicide will only make them angry and increase the risk of suicide.
- FACT – Asking someone directly about suicidal intent…
- lowers anxiety.
- opens up communication.
- lowers the risk of an impulsive act.
- Clues and waring signs of suicide.
- FACT – Asking someone directly about suicidal intent…
- MYTH – No one can stop a suicide. It is inevitable.
QPR offers hope through positive action. It is not counseling or treatment.
Like CPR, the more people who know QPR, the more lives are saved.
How can you help prevent suicide? – Learn how to ask the suicide question effectively. Attend a QPR presentation (in-person or online options are available).
NAMI Minnesota is one organization that offers QPR presentations, along with about seven other types of suicide prevention training. For NAMI Minnesota’s suicide prevention classes, visit: https://namimn.org/education-and-public-awareness/classes/suicide-prevention-classes/
Beyond the QPR presentation I observed that was presented by a NAMI Minnesota staff member, I have also paid ($29.95) for and reviewed the self-guided online QPR “Gatekeeper” presentation available at https://qprinstitute.com/individual-training and found it be a great option if you are unable to attend a live presentation.
I personally am considering being trained to present QPR to any audiences, and may be available in the near future to present to your workplace, school, church, and community, but as of 12/21/2025, I am not trained yet.
Thank you for taking in this information. Feel free to contact me if you need help connecting to any of the organizations and resources listed on page one.
Sincerely,
Brian Jost
Email: brianjost@inTheMic.com
Website: https://forcingsmiles.com/
