fbpx

Category: Suicide

Mercy was my support dog for recovery and two losses by suicide

by Andrea Giannini

My name is Andrea and I am an addict in recovery. My addictions were speed, narcotics, and alcohol. Because of my addictions, I’ve lost friends, significant others, housing, and my dignity. But since getting clean and sober, I have gained family, home, companions, and Mercy.

Andrea and Mercy

My mother gave me this rescue pitbull puppy which was named Angel. After realizing that the rescue dog rescued me, I renamed her Mercy.

Mercy came to me just 2 days after I became free from addiction

My clean/sober date is January 29, 2014, and I received Mercy on … Read more...

Charles’s 28th Birthday, April 26, 2023. Year 8 since his death.

Late last year, I spoke to a class of high school students locally. The teacher said she had been a friend of Charles’s which shocked me. How did she get to be the teacher? Wasn’t she too young? I couldn’t speak for a few seconds. The teacher even shared old pictures I had not seen.

You see I have Charles frozen at age 20.

All those who went to school with him are kind of frozen in my mind, too. I do see his friends, I get that they’ve graduated from college, some have married and his best friend had … Read more...

The day my naïveté left me stranded

Almost everyone can mark the day their innocence walked out the door and harsh reality took its place. It’s that day when your vision of what the world is, where it’s going, and how you are moving through it changes course. Can you remember yours?

Awareness had been stalking me for weeks but had successfully been shoved out of the spotlight by denial, leaving it panting at the periphery of my conscience, anxious to break in and give me news I didn’t want to hear.

My naive mind didn’t want the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place but … Read more...

Podcast: You’re Living to Prevent Suicide, What Now?” with Anne Moss Rogers

preventing suicide podcast

In this episode, Marci Nettles and Anne Moss Rogers have a conversation about Suicide, losing a loved one to suicide, and HOW to travel through the grief with the pain.

Anne Moss shares her personal story of losing her younger son, Charles, to suicide and the aftermath for herself and her family… How she turned this Tragedy into a Triumphant Purpose in Living to Prevent Suicide. Other mental health podcasts Anne Moss has been on for grief, addiction, mental health, coping are here.

Find this podcast on:

From where I do I draw my
… Read more...

My child has been suicidal. What do I do now?

A what to do, what to say guide for caregivers.

20 pages

Click here for the eBook: My Child Has Been Suicidal. What do I do Now?

These bonus eBooks are included in your email!

This free 20-page eBook is for a parent, guardian, foster parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. It focuses on how you manage the conversations and turmoil of emotions you are experiencing after a child you love has confessed he is suicidal, has attempted suicide, or is coming home after an inpatient hospital stay for suicide risk or attempt. How you react and support does help. Find … Read more...

Talk About Suicide with Your Family to Save Lives

Explore Two Important Questions for Suicide Prevention

This article is Published in Richmond Family Magazine

Let’s face it, when it comes to communicating with your kids, you’d probably rather talk about sex than suicide. But as a mom who lost a son to suicide in 2015, it’s a conversation you need to have with a young person – even if everything looks okay on the outside. 

My son Charles was the funniest, most popular kid in school and the last person you’d ever expect to take his life. When I looked back later after learning more, I saw obvious signs … Read more...

I Quit! I’m done….

There are many times I feel insignificant. Like I just don’t matter or no one hears me or sees me. Have you felt that way?

I’ve recognized that the digital world seems to foster that feeling more often so I’ve learned how to manage it and what to do.

This YouTube short is all of 39 seconds. My YouTube #shorts channel.

Let me know what you think. 🙂

I am done! The refueling comment
… Read more...

Depression has many faces. What are the signs?

My son rarely looked sad

We are often conditioned to look for the sad person when we think of depression. The above picture is what I saw, a happy-go-lucky kid with a revolving door of friends. When we finally got a depression diagnosis for Charles after a psychological evaluation I was shocked. I had thought about it but he did not seem to fit the criteria I had been reading. People rarely do.

Charles would live with untreated depression, become addicted to heroin and die by suicide.

Men who live with depression are often irritable and angry during a depressive … Read more...

Lisa’s story. You really can stop suicide with your ears.

youth feel they are not being heard

I told the story about Leo. Now it’s Lisa’s turn.

This one has a whole different outcome, one that still has me in deep reflection months later. It wasn’t without twists and turns. It would be my stomach and my heart that took that journey.

Lisa: “Hey, im a 16 year old girl, im done living it’s too hard, and I don’t just want the pain to end i wanna die im so tired of being here. im planning on doing it this week. before you tell something ive already heard like ” it will get better ”

… Read more...

Loving Someone With Suicidal Thoughts Webinar

If you or someone you love is in crisis, call the suicide prevention lifeline at 988 or text the crisis text line at 741-741.

Anne Moss Rogers interviews Stacey Freedenthal PhD, LCSW in this webinar Q&A style. At the end, we answered audience questions.

If you want to see the questions and pick and choose which parts you want to hear, go to go to YouTube and the “chapters” are laid out.

  1. Visit the video here
  2. Click the description and you’ll see the time stamps next to the questions
  3. Click the time stamps (the numbers like 28:30) and it will
… Read more...

Leo, the French kid

Leo

When I first messaged Leo, he revealed only an “L.” He first landed on this blog from a google search on how to kill himself. He was filled with despair and claimed he needed to get on the bus.

I had not ever heard anyone put it that way. I wonder now if it’s a French saying. In short, Leo was suicidal. For the record, my blog has never offered instructions on how to die but I do offer a listening ear and resources for those who want them.

It was a couple of weeks before I would figure … Read more...

What am I grateful for? Day #12

It took me about a half hour to dress to walk today because it was 19 degrees Fahrenheit. With the wind chill factor, it was 5 degrees. Thank goodness for old ski clothes. because that is cold for this Southern girl.

This little husky pup was waiting for me. Now I don’t normally pet strange dogs but this one and I go back a ways. He greeted me, anxiously expecting some attention which I gladly gave. I didn’t see many people or dogs today because saner folks were staying indoors where it was warm. But there was sun and I … Read more...

Connections with Tavia Avila and The McClish — 12/18/2022

Watch/Listen on FB

I tell some stories I’ve not told before in this radio show. We talked a lot about the link between addiction and suicide. It’s an hour. And you can take us on your walk.

Charles’ personality was so big
… Read more...

Story from a Timeboy1408 fan

Timboy1408 video Cosby Gangsta Rap, 2008. Charles and Jacob

My name is Katherine and my friends and I used to watch your son, Charles on YouTube religiously when we were 13. Like every day, we were watching Timeboy1408 and would laugh until we couldn’t breathe.

A lot of our inside jokes were and still are things your son said in those videos. I’m now 25 years old and something made me think about those laughs we had so I went to see how he was doing. My heart broke when I saw that he had killed himself.

Recently, I’ve been … Read more...

Adam Paul Tilton, 1973 – 1993

Beloved Son and Brother

by Andy Tilton

“You are out of our reach, but not out of our hearts and minds.”

Mental Wellness begins with these words spoken out of necessity for a healthy recovery and mental healing:

Dear and Precious Adam,

As your father, I wish to express my brokenness and bitterness over your departure from our reach.

After searching my mind and heart, I am now ready to forgive you for leaving your sister, mother, and me so soon and without a word or explanation.

I have come to accept the fact that your pain was so severe … Read more...