Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

Life, anyone’s life for that matter is worth fighting for, and even if the best outcome is not the biggest, it is not the most useful.

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

The most important thing I learned from my mentor is the best outcome from approaching anyone who is suicidal, is not that they pledge to never commit suicide but in fact helping that person step down from their immediate urge and provide them with hope to continue wanting to make a difference in their own lives regardless. At the moment you talk to someone and address suicide, all of the attention is on that person, and that person only, it is their moment to be heard and have support and if anyone is able to listen and provide them with the time and proper encouragement they can at least provide a glimmer of hope. A small glimmer can grow and expand to completely modify the life path they are choosing for themselves. Instead of ending their life, they allow themselves to see past that to a world where their issues have solutions. It was being able to understand how the best outcome of approach does not have to be a complete elimination of the entire problem in one sitting, but in reality it is just pushing for one more day of life.

                                                                                                                                                          

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

Overall my approach to my interviews has changed drastically from my first one to this one, particularly because I hid behind my mentor for the first two. Although I was able to get a constructive amount of information throughout my first two interviews, it was this third interview that provided me with a different perspective on helping those who need it. Lizette Martinez, the Volunteer Coordinator at the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center in Culver City was very open to her experience in suicide prevention and on her background as a volunteer for over 4 years. I was able to get to know Ms. Martinez just by a conversation and was able to find her muse through wanting to help others by preventing suicide - the most preventable form of death. Her current passion has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of why people help each other, and most importantly, has allowed me to branch for ideas for my second independent component which has been to create a campaign to create suicide prevention awareness.