IntroductionThe loss of a patient to suicide is a common experience among mental health practitioners and trainees. Research suggests that younger, less experienced clinicians are often most keenly affected by the experience. Given the prevalence of patient loss to suicide and the subsequent emotional aftermath, our goal in creating a multidisciplinary suicide symposium was to provide a safe, structured environment where trainees and mental health practitioners could obtain collegial support and education to reduce the stigma surrounding patient suicide.MethodsMental health trainees and practitioners (including medical students, nurse practitioner students, psychiatry residents, psychology interns, and practicing psychologists and psychiatrists) were invited to a 4-hour symposium. The curriculum focused on assessment of risk and possible interventions, as well as addressing the loss of a patient to suicide. Teaching methods included a PowerPoint lecture; case-based, small-group discussion; and role-play. Attendees completed numbered, anonymous surveys looking at attitudes about loss and suicide before and after the symposium.ResultsOf 35 total attendees, 22 completed both pre- and postsymposium surveys. Paired t tests revealed several statistically significant increases, including increases in comfort seeking support from a colleague after losing a patient to suicide (p = .043) and comfort seeking support from a professional after losing a patient to suicide (p = .030).DiscussionThe symposium appears to have had the desired effect of increasing attendees' comfort working with patients at risk for suicide, as well as their comfort reaching out for support from others following the loss of a patient to suicide.

No abstract

Aim. The aim of this article is to identify the types of mass mediated propaganda in Western mainstream media sources before the Special Military Operation began on 24 February 2022. Methodology. The author used academic literature on propaganda use, and mass media approaches to covering armed conflicts. A critical analysis of mass mediated materials of the topic, in the period from November 2021 until February 2022, was used to derive the communicated and signalled idealised hierarchies in international relations by Western mainstream media sources.Results. The results of this indicative study suggest that Western mainstream media are engaged in the current global geopolitics of transformation (from Unipolar to Multipolar order), and there is an attempt by the US-led Western powers to obstruct the rise of challenging powers and their influence and hence to preserve US hegemony. Research implications. New mass media is playing a crucial role in attempting to manipulate the minds of different publics with the use of propaganda in the field of international relations. This trend is likely to continue to increase in the future. The underlying reason for this is the increase in geopolitical tensions resulting from a transformation in the global order. In this article, the 2020-21 Ukraine ‘crisis’ and the Western media’s narrative of the ‘imminent’ Russian invasion shall be used to illustrate how the propaganda is formulated for the effect of obstructing Russian interests and influence.