Category: Suicide

Sometimes, I want to go back to a simpler time

When I see photos of younger Charles before our struggles began, I have the urge to go back to a day when he was just a happy, joyous child. There is something so attractive about those days of innocence before his issues took him and our family hostage.

I remember when he showed up in our room at 7:15am in the morning. It was a Sunday and Charles was not yet in a toddler bed and I wondered how he got out of the crib. Richard had somehow helped his brother out and we’d never find out exactly how it … Read more...

Can you help? Two asks.

http://www.thekidswelose.com/

I have two sponsorship requests

I have a private sponsor for this. Thank you!

I’d like a sponsor for screening the movie for $350, The Kids We Lose. Virginia leads the way in suspensions and expulsions. Legislation has been passed to curtail our #1 ranking in the US but for it to happen, we need to learn to not use restraints, suspensions, seclusion and instead know the steps of escalating behavior so we can help these youth learn how to regulate their emotions before they escalate to fits of rage.

These kids are the leaders in the … Read more...

safeTALK suicide prevention training scheduled

Current Richmond, VA safeTALK trainngs by me are listed here.

January 25, 2020 in Richmond, VA. Details here.

SafeTALK is a half-day (4-hour) training program that teaches participants to recognize and engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide and connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention. SafeTALK stresses safety while challenging taboos that inhibit open talk about suicide.

An ASIST-trained resource or other community support resource will be at this training. The ‘safe’ of safeTALK stands for ‘suicide alertness for everyone’. The ‘TALK’ letters stand for the practice actions that one does to help those … Read more...

My heart has reached past the edges of myself

About a month prior to my book publishing and for about two weeks after, I suffered an epic grief relapse. I miss my child so much. My sleep was rocky. And something else I can’t quite put a label on. Writing the book was cathartic and allowed me to find healing. But having something out there that is so personal is something else entirely. I expected to be overjoyed. And I was but there were so many mixed emotions.

Will people hate it? How does it compare to other books? Then there is the guilt for sharing such a … Read more...

When your loved one suffers mental illness and addiction

What frustrated me about Charles’ treatment was how the behavioral health community silo-ed treatment. When he was using, the advice was to treat the substance use disorder first. He was not addicted at this point.

I didn’t know Charles was suffering from thoughts of suicide and no one ever suggested or gave him a suicide screening or did a proper psychological evaluation to offer a diagnosis. I kept asking for a diagnosis and it’s still shocking that no one ever did that evaluation. I never shut up about it but apparently they found me very easy to ignore.

How does … Read more...

Video: ‘Diary of a Broken Mind’ – CBS6/WTVR-TV Greg McQuade: ‘Heroes Among Us’

Buy the book, Diary of a Broken Mind.

Read the story at WTVR here. Video below. Greg and Cole spent a lot of time putting this together and I appreciate they put the hotline numbers on the news show. I’m so honored to be one of Greg’s Heroes Among Us for a second time, his award-winning segment. Resource pages here.

USA Suicide & Crisis Lifeline call 988
USA Crisis Text 741-741
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Veterans call 988, press 1
USA Crisis Line for LGBTQ Youth, call 1-866-488-7386
USA Crisis Text for LGBTQ Youth 678-678
USA … Read more...

Live Your Happy Now Podcast

103. New Possibilities for mental health & suicide prevention with Anne Moss Rogers

It’s time to change things up and look at suicide in a whole different way.  In an environment where it’s easy to feel lonely, rejected or ignored, one’s sense of well-being is put into question. 

Oftentimes, these emotions twist our realities into heavy figures of depression and helplessness. During these times, knowing someone understands your struggles and circumstances could just turn the tables around. 

In this heartfelt episode, Anne Moss Rogers shares her personal experience after her son died by suicide and how it prompted her to speak … Read more...

Why are we making high school so so stressful?

“Everyone needs to relax a little. Life ain’t a board meeting.”
—Charles Aubrey Rogers

I talk to students a lot. And when I hear how packed their schedules are, I wonder why we are doing this to our kids? Administrators are enchanted with scores from standardized testing that is all about memorization and no innovation. That alone has taken education backwards. What is the point of pure memorization in a world that values innovation?

When I heard my niece’s schedule her senior year and the kind of work her AP classes required, I couldn’t believe we are putting our kids … Read more...

Runway 2 Life

Me and Stephanie Cole, walk co-chair for this years Out of the Darkness walk in Richmond 

Runway 2 Life, a fashion show in support of suicide prevention training, was tonight. I thought I was in New York. Everything was so well done and the venue at Main Street Station so elegant. Best of all, the event attracts people we don’t often see at other mental health and suicide prevention events. It truly is special.

My hat is off to Alicia, founder, and Michelle, her worthy right hand woman volunteer, for all their hard work. And I had to run … Read more...

Note in the book from my publisher

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This book is a departure. It is a departure, certainly, for Beach Glass Books. Our catalogue is replete with coastal books and historical books. We have published children’s books and books of true crime and essays, with novels on the way.

But never have we published a book like this.

Few have. This book is a departure even from others that one might think are in the genre. Books about the suicides of young people are available. But books that take a reader deep into the life of a family whose child dies by suicide, with … Read more...

I just want to end the pain

Your brain is telling you need to die. The pain is so unbearable, you start to think that is the only solution. You think there is no other way out and the world would be better if you weren’t in it.

You just want that pain to stop. Your brain convinces you the only way is to kill yourself. All other options are blocked. Your focus narrows and it’s ALL you can think about.

You don’t really want to die. But at the same time you do want to die.

The pain will stop without you dying. It usually takes … Read more...

Newspaper article about the book

Since most of you can’t read it due to lack of subscription and probably can’t read because you are on a phone, I am posting this. I may have to take it down. Such a shame to get a good review and not be able to share it because the world doesn’t have a subscription to the Richmond Times Dispatch. Here is is in pdf. Here it is in the newspaper.

Woman pours grief over her son’s suicide in memoir to help others

diary of a broken mind

Amazon.com

Beach Glass Books

Barnes & Noble

Canada | Australia | UK |Germany| Italy |

… Read more...

Mental health and suicide prevention speaker

Motivational suicide prevention speaker-More video at her speaker website
Anne moss’s speaker website

❤️“Anne Moss captures hearts and fills them with hope.”

As one of the top motivational mental health and suicide prevention speakers, AnneMoss comes to the subject as a mother who lost a child, Charles, to addiction and suicide. No presentation is “canned” but uniquely customized to the audience and always ends on a message of hope with moments of sadness as well as humor.

Topics include Turning Pain into Purpose, The Emotionally Naked Truth about Suicide (or student suicide), and How can we intervene … Read more...

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

My motto for life was set at the age of four from a children’s book called the Little Engine that Could. It was one of my childhood favorites and my mom, dad, grandmothers and my cousin Charles Haigh probably read it to me a total of over 100 times.

When things got hard, my mind would chant, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Not just as a child but as a young adult although the words themselves may have changed depending on the challenge.

The story is all about determination, perseverance, pushing oneself … Read more...

Diary of a Broken Mind available now!

Book’s Introduction

Buy the book

It’s out! So how can you help? First, please share this post. Launch is tonight!

Between those book covers, there is a lot of pain, anger, laughter, purpose, healing, hope, and heart. I do feel a little naked and a lot vulnerable but I’m less terrified today than I was two weeks ago. And yeah, excited. I’ve woken up at 4:30am for the past two weeks.

I have had initial feedback from advance readers and so far so good. A good launch is important and that has to do with sales so here are some … Read more...