Scudder is a humanitarian, entrepreneur, philanthropist, counselor, life coach, national motivational/inspirational speaker, mentor, suicide attempt survivor and domestic violence survivor. Through his personal lived experiences with abuse, depression, homelessness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “ PTSD” and suicide attempts he created a humane, emotional and behavioral health services organization in NY named Scudder Intervention Services Foundation, Inc. “SISFI” that serves people who are abused (physical, verbal, sexual, emotional, domestic), substance abusers, lost a loved one to suicide and violence, homeless, suicidal, and victims and survivors of disasters with mental/behavioral health, psychological, trauma and suicide first aid care. After one of his suicide attempts in 2005, he decided to dedicate his life fulltime to helping people prevent or manage emotional crisis, pain and distress to prevent suicide ideations and attempts. He is the Executive Director of SISFI’s Abuse and Suicide First Aid Response and Wellness Center where he continues to develop his work and studies in the fields of health and wellness, human behavior, psycholinguistics, psychology, sociology and socioeconomics in working directly with people, victims and survivors on early detection, care and prevention of human suffering and emotional distress. He is a trained and certified Mental Health, Psychological, Trauma and Suicide First Aid Practitioner who provides services and support to people worldwide. He has other specialized trainings in various aspects of trauma, crisis intervention, response and management, emotional wellness and suicide prevention which enhances his expertise in the field. He is a public speaker who speaks at events and conducts workshops and presentations on health and human wellness, technology, social media, education and suicide awareness and prevention. His speaking engagements are in schools, churches, business places, orgs and agencies across the world requesting his expertise and unique approach of humane services and emotional wellness. He works with individuals as well as families and groups of people. He sits on various health, mental health, education, anti-violence, community safety and development councils across NYC where he shares his expertise in the human conditions of life to create effective humane services and support systems. In 2013, he founded and launched The Suicide Institute to provide research, specialized education, intervention, postvention and training in Crisis Intervention, Response and Management, and various First Aid skillsets such as; Mental Health, Psychological, Trauma, Domestic Abuse and Suicide and Psycholinguistics. His vision for the Institute is to take training to people in places where they work, worship, study and on the ground in communities on these skillsets so we will have a better system in place to handle early detection, intervention and prevention of mental/behavioral health crisis and mental illnesses. In 2014 he brainstormed the idea of the NYC Suicide Council collective specifically focused on research, awareness, training, response and support for and about suicide due to the increase in work he was getting from people in crisis and distress. In 2015 he launched the Council with strong support from mental health professionals, clergy leaders, educators, community based orgs and non-profits that he has been working with over the years. His vision is to create a better way for people to work together on the human conditions of suicide whether in the mental health field or not. His motto for the council is “Suicide is a human condition that requires Love, humane support, patience and ongoing care to understand, heal, overcome and prevent.” In 2016 the council grew to over 300 organizations, churches, agencies, educational institutions, healthcare providers, survivors and practitioners. He is a member of and consultant for the Westchester Suicide Prevention Task Force that was convened and run by the Westchester Government Office of Community Mental Health to address mental health, mental illness, trauma and suicide awareness and prevention across Westchester. The task force comprises of people with various specialties, accreditations, and interests from various agencies, non-profits, community based orgs, institutions and churches. He is the Director of Suicide Prevention and Emotional Wellness for the New York State Chaplain Task Force where he provides training to Chaplains and Clergy Leaders on understanding and meeting the human and humane needs and conditions of emotional crisis and distress that can lead to trauma and mental health conditions such as depression, addiction, substance abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence and suicide. He is actively engaged with responding to crisis incidents to bring humane support to people affected by it. He hosts his own Human Wellness Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio where he addresses human conditions, challenges, resources, wellness and experiences of his work. He’s a father of 5 beautiful children, 2 boys and 3 girls. Find out more about him at brettascudder.com and his work at sisfi.org and suicideinstitute.org.
