Reverend Randy Parks, Newton Medical Center Chaplain

There is an upcoming panel discussion in Sussex County called "Finding Hope in Times Like These, Grieving in the Aftermath of Suicide." It aims to provide support and help people cope with the trauma of losing a loved one to suicide. The event was organized by the Sussex County Deanery of Roman Catholic Churches and the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center. The panel will allow people to share their grief and bereavement experiences. The goal is to overcome the stigma surrounding suicide and provide a supportive community for those affected. The event is free and will take place on Tuesday evening, with an option to attend in person or remotely. A four-week support group will also be formed after the panel discussion. Contact information for RSVP is provided. special and very important events which is coming up in Sussex County next week. It's a panel discussion that is called Finding Hope in Times Like These, Grieving in the Aftermath of Suicide and it's supportive communication and just helping people cope with what's really just a traumatic event and for so many people one of the most traumatic events they could ever possibly experience. And my guest who's joining me now at the RNJ Morning Program with a lot more information to share about this and we'll make sure that you have all the details about how you can take part in this. My guest who is joining me is the manager of spiritual care services and also happens to be the chaplain at Newton Medical Center of course part of the Atlantic Health System. We have Reverend Randy Parks who is joining me here at the RNJ Morning Program. Reverend Parks it's Burt Barron WRNJ Radio great to speak with you this morning. Reverend how you doing? Doing well thank you so much for having me on Burt. This is an important thing to get the word out about Randy and I wanted to make sure that we spent a couple of minutes on this. When I think about suicide and you look at it from the outside perspective obviously it's such a traumatic thing for everybody involved but I think Randy for the people who are left behind I mean the person that took their own life they're gone. The people that are left behind Randy I feel like they die every single day. They wake up they die again just because of the grief and what they're going through and just trying to cope with such a traumatic traumatic thing. This event is going to give people a chance to share their feelings and and maybe get some help and access to dealing with the grief that just for some people just seems endless. Talk about why you this event was put together and what you hope people will take away from this next week. Thank you very much Burt and yes I believe what you said is correct. Many people do experience a death of themselves when they lose a loved one to suicide and it has been on the increase especially with teenage and young adult males this pandemic. The genesis of this gathering was a group of Catholic priests called the Sussex County Deanery of Roman Catholic Churches and Father Kim at Good Shepherd Church Andover wanted to put together a discussion group of needs for grief and bereavement in our area especially Sussex County and it was pointed out that while there are certain groups to support people in grief and bereavement in general there was nothing addressing those who lose a loved one to suicide and so that gathering of discussion it was decided that with the help of Joseph T Quinlan Bereavement Center and Atlantic Health System we would put together a panel to allow people to come and discuss their grief and bereavement. That was the genesis of it. And just an opportunity Randy for people that have this kinship they have this connection they're all people who are still here but were impacted by suicide whether it was in some cases it's so hard to fathom a family member a spouse a close friend a co-worker I would think if it were me Randy if someone very close to me took their own lives I don't think I could ever stop blaming myself and just thinking what should I have done differently what signs did I miss why didn't I stop this from happening and that's probably something that people carry with them who knows how long after a suicide takes place and just dealing with that is very difficult I can see why you have a need to just to talk to people and try to manage the grief it seems like it could be overwhelming for people. Yes I think you're very accurate in your perception there grief and bereavement is so unique and individual any way or any loss of a life but with suicide where there is such a stigma still in our society sometimes with our moral and religious teachings and people also wondering as you said what could I have done differently they have no answers to themselves and oftentimes they seek no answers outside of themselves because it just hurts too much or they're too embarrassed to talk about it so people live with it with isolation and alienation from the very support that they probably need the most at this time. Yeah yep it's about overcoming stigma Randy and there's so many aspects of life that just have these barriers have these obstacles have a stigma attached it's time to just clear the path and help people get the assistance and and deal with things that they need to deal with my guest this morning at the RNJ morning program is the chaplain of Newton Medical Center part of Atlantic Health System Reverend Randy Parks is with me here Randy this event this is next Tuesday evening 6 p.m absolutely free dinner will be provided and I'm going to give folks the contact information as to how they can reserve even if you can't attend you'll still can get a zoom link and still take part remotely in this because of the the real importance and the real benefits of this but what are your expectations for something like this Randy I think you're going to see a cross-section of people from every imaginable walk of life who is going to bring a story and bring their own struggles and hopefully find some some solutions and find some relief and some comfort for some people you're probably expecting a crowd of various age ranges I'm sure for this event on Tuesday. Yes you're exactly right Bert while we don't know for sure who will come we do know that again suicide has been on the increase especially since the pandemic we hope that people from our community whether they're in religious communities or not will come to St. Joseph's Church School Auditorium where we have professional clinicians Lori Opitz the director of the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center we have Scott McLean the manager of Outpatient Behavioral Health Services for Atlantic Health System at Newton Medical Center and we also have someone who has lived with the loss of suicide in their own family speaking so we hope people from all backgrounds will be able to come it will be anonymous if you don't want to share your name you can still be there take in what the panelists have to say and also have a time for questions finally Bert also we will be developing a four-week support group every Thursday night of July out of this group and we hope that will be an ongoing support after the panel discussion on Tuesday night. Great well Randy I want to thank you for joining me let me just give folks the uh the contact information here to RSVP if you'd like to do so online it's Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice and spell out every word karenannquinlanhospice.org slash hope h-o-p-e you can also do it by phone 973-948-2283 again it is free dinner will be provided for everyone who attends it's again 6 to 8 p.m this coming Tuesday June 6th at the St. Joseph's School Auditorium which is on Halstead Street in Newton. Randy where I went to kindergarten and first grade a long time ago that was the uh the school that I had attended so it's kind of like my old stomping ground there as well but uh thank you Randy for for making yourself available today we wanted to get the word out about this because it's such an important topic and just having people a mechanism to to handle their grief maybe you never handle it but at least you know that there's help out there and there's some people that really care about what you're going through and they're going through the same thing themselves so hopefully some some positive things are going to come out of this we hope on Tuesday Randy so thank you again for the time and bless you for your work and hope you have a very blessed day and blessed weekend and I thank you for the time this morning Bert thank you very much we're very grateful for you sharing this information with our community