CW: This submit discusses suicide and suicide-related matters.
In case you didn’t know, September is Suicide Prevention Consciousness Month in the US. Yearly, I do my finest to make use of this month as a possibility to share info, statistics and sources associated to suicide prevention. Suicide isn’t solely an especially critical subject, however a public well being challenge. We are able to’t proceed to disregard this subject, as laborious as it could be to speak about. Suicide prevention means talking up, sharing our tales, and reminding others that they don’t seem to be alone.
I’ve been writing about suicide prevention and suicide-related matters since I began this weblog six years in the past. It’s one thing that could be very private and near my coronary heart, each as a psychological well being advocate and as an individual. I perceive the battle of sharing your story – of being afraid to inform somebody that you just’re hurting, or that you just don’t need to be right here anymore. It’s one of many causes I began My Mind’s Not Damaged to start with. I used to be struggling to share my expertise and inform my story. Sooner or later, the concept to start out a weblog took maintain, nevertheless it was nonetheless years earlier than I obtained going. As a lot as I needed to try to inform my story, it was nonetheless laborious.
And we all know why it’s laborious. We see why it’s laborious, each single day, to be weak in our society. We don’t need to seem weak. We need to seem to be we “have it together” (what meaning, I nonetheless don’t know). We don’t need folks to fret about us, or investigate cross-check us. And the disgrace…oh, the disgrace. We’re ashamed of our ache, embarrassed that we even have it to start with. All these causes, and plenty of extra, are why folks don’t search assist after they’re hurting.
Typically, the results for that aren’t that extreme. There are ranges to ache, simply as there are ranges to each sort of emotion we expertise. And that’s the reason suicide prevention is so vital – it’s actually a life-or-death state of affairs. There’s a seriousness to this subject, a weight to it that makes it laborious to speak about. However that’s precisely why we needs to be speaking about it. As a result of if we don’t know what we’re up in opposition to, how can we combat in opposition to it?
There was an incredible quantity of analysis and information surrounding suicide in the US in current a long time. This information has been useful in recognizing that suicide is a public well being challenge. That in current a long time, it’s grow to be a number one reason behind loss of life in the US, even whereas there may be acknowledgement that this information is underreported. This challenge isn’t going anyplace and, as we’ve seen, is changing into extra prevalent as time goes on.
So, what can we do? How can we speak about a subject that’s painful, heavy. and personally taxing for thousands and thousands of individuals? I don’t have a straightforward reply to that query, however the most effective one I’ve is that this: we begin making an attempt. We begin making an attempt to have conversations that we haven’t had earlier than. We acknowledge that there are teams of people who find themselves at larger danger for suicide, and we be sure that folks have the sources they want. We begin making an attempt to speak, however we additionally begin making an attempt to hear. Typically, folks can’t share their tales until room is made for them to take action. Suicide, like psychological sickness, doesn’t discriminate. I don’t say that to scare you or make you’re feeling defeated; removed from it. If anybody could be impacted, then shouldn’t we stand collectively? Shouldn’t we be stronger due to that? I feel so. The truth is, I know so.
This month, I’m hoping to make use of this weblog as an area to share statistics and sources surrounding suicide and suicide prevention. However I’m additionally hoping to make use of this area to share folks’s tales. You probably have a narrative to share, please get in contact with me – I’d love to offer you a platform to speak throughout this month. We’re stronger collectively and by lifting one another up we will get out of the darkness, collectively.
