Self blame. Confusion. Loss of self esteem. Those are the results of silence. This letter is from a friend of a friend who is about 20 years old. Young people do want to talk about mental illness, addiction and suicide. But they won’t if you don’t.
My best friend growing up was Jaimie Smith.* I’ll consider her my sister always. So I see you on her page often and read your blog here and there because I know how much your son’s death affected her.
I just wanna reach out and thank you for posting what you do because most people don’t talk about suicide or addiction.
I grew up with a father who was a heroin addict. And the girl who was going to marry my brother who I loved, took her life a year and a half ago.
But no one talks about it. No one ever has.
I never understood why I had my mother’s last name but my dad tried killing himself and would go missing so often. I figured it was always something I did. I figured he never got clean because I wasn’t the ideal daughter he wanted.
My brother felt like he wasn’t good enough, because Tina* took her life without ever speaking about depression.
So I just wanted to thank you, because it makes me feel a little better reading something written by a friend of a friend. It’s more comforting than just reading something a random person wrote.
*names were changed for identity reasons
You are reaching so many people Anne Moss! You are using your grief to help others! It is amazing! And so are you!