Category: Suicide

Be Like a Phoenix

by W. Joseph Stegner, Jr.

I repeat to you, what was told to me,
when I almost jumped from the Golden Gate.
“However gloomy the skies may be,
they will eventually clear, if you wait.

“If you jump, it will be permanent.
There is no taking it back.
When the skies clear, you’ll already be gone,
because, on the water you chose to smack.”

He did not tell me in rhyme,
but he told me with honest concern,
that things would get better, if only I’d wait,
through emotions that currently burn.

A Coast Guard Cutter had staged below,
to … Read more...

’13 Reasons Why’ associated with increase in suicide rates

Authors of the study with the exception of me who is second from the left. All the rest are real researchers with the degrees to go with that. Jeff Bridge PhD, John Campo MD, Lisa Horowitz PhD

The Netflix show “13 Reasons Why” was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in the month (April 2017) following the shows release, after accounting for ongoing trends in suicide rates, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 

The study estimated that 195 more suicides occurred … Read more...

Presentation team at pediatric conference

suicide prevention presentation team
L to R: Mary Tipton, Fellow, NIH;, Anne Moss Rogers, Emotionally
Naked LLC; John Campo, MD, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience
Institute; Jeff Bridge PhD, Center for Suicide Prevention & Research, Nationwide Children’s Hospital & the Ohio State University; Lisa Horowitz, PhD, MPH, Staff Scientist at the NIMH

I was so honored to be a presenter among this distinguished panel of youth suicide prevention researchers and doctors at PAS 2019 (Pediatric Academic Societies). I wasn’t so sure how my presentation would be received in such a strict academic environment. But judging from standing ovation after my talk which shocked me, I’d say … Read more...

What podcasts do you like?

So I’m trying to figure out my podcast strategy for promoting the book and my cause of suicide prevention and the issues surrounding that cause of death, mental illness, addiction etc. And grief.

But I want to go on shows that my market, you all, like to listen to.

So tell me your favorite podcasts because I want to grow our tribe here on Emotionally Naked.

Letter from depression
… Read more...

YWCA 2019 Pat Asch Fellowship Winner is…

Someone has faith in my cause. They didn’t reject it because it was a taboo subject or turn away because I lost a son to addiction and suicide. I’m so honored to win this fellowship towards coaching, classes, conferences and more to help push forward my cause of social justice–youth suicide prevention.

I look forward to connecting with past winners and forging new relationships. Say goodbye to mental health stigma.

Not only will I be working on building my professional speaking business including a special focus on area colleges, I will continue to implement Preventure, a life skills training for … Read more...

Happy Birthday Charles

Charles Aubrey Rogers

Today my boy would be 24 years old. What would he look like? How would he have changed or not changed?

He’ll never get wrinkles, have arthritis, worry about getting a cancer diagnosis. He’ll never graduate from college, get married or have my grandchildren.

Instead, he is forever frozen at the age of 20 in pictures and memories. Forever young. Forever tragic due to his addiction to heroin and death by suicide. Charles was supposed to be famous by now. He was supposed to be making me laugh.

I crack morbid jokes sometimes which make me laugh … Read more...

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome–the suicide disease

by Chris Skinner

I was a popular student until the fourth grade when my dad became disabled and was in and out of the hospital up to 180 days out of the year.  I cried constantly, became withdrawn, my grades dropped some, and I lost most all of my friends that weren’t cousins.

Did I talk about it?

No, men are strong and are not supposed to show emotions in public.

Through the court system, my brother asked to be removed from our household. After it took place, he became more involved with drugs, a story for another day.

We … Read more...

Withdrawal triggers thoughts of suicide

how to hang yourself, how to hang myself, best place to hang myself

I’m writing this because I didn’t know it and remember telling someone in recovery who said, “We talk about that in our groups all the time. I thought this was common knowledge.”

I didn’t know it. And while I’m not trying to panic parents who have a child in active addiction going into recovery, it wasn’t on my radar and here’s why it should be on yours.

We get sucked into phrases like “rock bottom” and “tough love” but no one ever defines them. They are all left up to our own interpretation. Tough love for one family might mean … Read more...

Exude a new attitude

I knew a young man
Who taught dogs to dance
and could hypnotize frogs
to go into a trance

Some days he would feel
So blue and so sad
Then the very next day
Stay up all night to play

He was a creative soul
Who was misunderstood
He suffered bipolar
Which is a brain disorder

People called him weak
The hurt was deep
One sorry sorry night
He tried to take his life

People called it selfish
They even got mad
They just didn’t get
He was very, very sad

Then one day a boy said,
“I’ll be your … Read more...

Book offers

Diary of a broken mind Charles Aubrey Rogers

This book is now published. Diary of a Broken Mind.

Laying out the offers for those on my subscriber list. My book will be out in October 2019 and you could win! Some of these offers are repeats but I finally firmed them up for my deserving tribe.

  1. A free, signed advance copy of my book before it’s released to the public for sale (one will be given away)
  2. A free, signed copy of the book once it comes out (one will be given away)
  3. Book Club by Zoom. If you have a book club, I will visit
… Read more...

An 11-year-old writes a letter after her father’s suicide

To Suicide

You have torn my family apart
Leaving all with broken hearts
Our hearts still missing pieces and parts.
Tears flows as days go by

I still don’t understand why
I really try not to be sad
I am still feeling bad inside.

This poem was written by an 11-year-old girl who lost her father to suicide. Sara Gaer, a suicide prevention advocate who focuses on first responders and preventing men’s suicide, shared this with me and it’s posted with permission from the 11-year-old’s mother.

Please stop, listen to that gut feeling that something doesn’t sound right. Then ask … Read more...

Integration of Youth Suicide Screening into Pediatric Practice

Turning Research into Real World Practice: Detecting and Managing Suicide Risk in Medical and School Settings

Media Contact:  Anne Moss Rogers FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Baltimore, MD, Month, date- In 2017, 6,769 youth ages 10-24 died by suicide, positioning suicide as the second leading cause of death among this age group for the eighth consecutive year. Previous research has identified that many youths who die by suicide visited a healthcare setting just weeks preceding their death, but were not detected. In response to the rising suicide rates, The Joint Commission (TJC) has recommended that all medical patients be screened for … Read more...

I inspire people to break up with mental health stigma

That starts with education through storytelling. With suicide being the number two cause of death on college campuses, I’m going to start there.

So in the fall, I will be targeting colleges, mostly Virginia and North Carolina to start. However, if any of you have a college connection outside of that area, I’m open to it. If any of you have connections locally, please send it. Here is my contact form. That doesn’t mean I am not going to do conferences or other offers that come my way.

Most colleges have a student activities fund or something similar to … Read more...

What did I say to myself to keep going?

After my son died by suicide, I kept telling myself I would survive.

I took deep breaths and repeated it to myself several times a day at first. I had no idea how, or when, or what that journey looked like. I honestly didn’t even know if it was true but invested in blind faith that I would. Others had. Why couldn’t I?

That simple phrase was the single most important thing I told myself.

It was a way to offer myself hope at a time when my future looked like it was paved with broken glass and razor wire. … Read more...