If you would like to commemorate a colleague who died from suicide or mental health disease, we welcome your submission. You may include as much or as little information as you would like, and you can submit anonymously if preferred. In the event that you would like your submission to be displayed anonymously, we are requiring your name is included in this form to us in case we need to discuss the content of your submission with you. We are collecting obituaries, written memories, photographs, and/or any other format you would be comfortable sharing with us to honor the lives of those lost. Other media and general reflections are welcome as well. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has a number of resources and guidance on safe reflection at https://afsp.org/ive-lost-someone. If your submission has any identifying information of the deceased, we ask that you obtain permission from a representative member of the individual’s family you are honoring so that we are sure that families are aware and comfortable with sharing this submission with the AAS and SUS audience.
One goal of the ASC is to promote awareness of the issue of mental health disease and suicide among surgeons and clinicians in order to collaboratively identify opportunities for prevention and treatment. In doing so, we also hope to offer moments for healing and reflection among our AAS and SUS community. We invite anyone interested to join us, and we hope that our individual voices will give rise to a collective place of healing, hope, and cultural shift.