Category: Suicide

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?

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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.

Get the Book Loving Someone With Suicidal Thoughts

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
… 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...

Two scripts on how a parent can ask a child about suicide

These are examples of two conversations, one with a high school student and a parent and then one with a college student and a parent. While it’s not likely it would go just like this, it is an example of how you ask open-ended questions, not judge, listen with empathy and remain calm, and figure out next step.

The bottom line, is trust your gut and do not freak out if your child admits to feeling suicidal. Take a deep breath, and be thankful they are there right now with you on the phone or in person. And you are … Read more...

Re-Educated Podcast: Suicide Prevention through Education

by Goutham Yegappan, Data Scientist, Center on Education and the Workforce, Host of the “Re-Educated” Podcast, and Graduate Student, at Georgetown University

What gives my life meaning and purpose that makes the suffering that I currently and will eventually endure, worthwhile? This is perhaps the most pressing question a person must answer at some point throughout their life. For every time we inevitably struggle, our reasons for trekking forward are shaken and thoroughly questioned.

Similarly, with love (episode 25), our education system fails us when it comes to contending with death and meaning. Western education seemingly over-values that which … Read more...

Free eBook: 10 Tips for Preventing Suicide in Our Children

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Most of us who’ve lost a child to suicide never saw any signs until after. Many parents will say there were no signs but most are shocked and think our kid “wasn’t the type.” We can’t know what’s going on in someone else’s head. And while nothing is guaranteed, these tips will help lower the risk. Because knowing what to say, and how to respond helps parents and caregivers have the tough conversations with more clarity and confidence.

Who is this for? Two-page report of tips for those who want to prevent youth suicide.

  • Written by a
… Read more...

Why are our kids feeling insignificant and what can we do about it?

A number of people blame the surge of mental health problems and youth mental health issues on mobile phones, social media, bullying, the pandemic, and all kinds of external issues.

But honestly, it’s all of these plus one another big one that is the result of the digital explosion.

Youth don’t feel they are being heard

The digital era made everyone aware that we were a society of billions. That made a lot of people feel like a grain of sand on a very big beach. Not feeling heard has made our young people (and many adults, too) feel more … Read more...