97.3 FM Public Radio in Richmond VA. The transcript is below and the show is thirty minutes. Perfect for listening in the car.
Transcript
WRIR Zero Hour Radio Show With Tim Bowring and Anne Moss Rogers
Category: Suicide
My mental illness feeds me lies about myself
Many of us have heard the song “Praying” by Kesha on the radio. Inspired by her lowest moments of her professional and personal life during which she dealt with depression and thoughts of suicide.
It’s very difficult to get others to understand what we hear from our own minds and the images we are fed from our mental illnesses.
You’re able to see her journey throughout the song with her lyrics and the imagery in the video. What you will miss just listening to it on the radio is her intro dialog.
This dialog is the hardest … Read more...
Are we normal people any more?
I am often out somewhere, going to the grocery or drug store, doing normal people things but feeling I’m not normal any more.
Today, we were driving back from visiting my parents in North Carolina and I watched parents in Chick-fil-A with their kids. I remember when we did those things with our own kids. Stopped to eat on the way to vacation somewhere. We asked if they needed to use the bathroom, if they’d washed their hands, what did they want to eat.
I look at some of the t-shirts the parents are wearing emblazoned with home-made logos in … Read more...
Event at Partners in Parenting
Check out her shirt and my skirt! It’s like we shared a memo but we didn’t. I so enjoyed presenting to Partners in Parenting. This group is one of the referring partners for Beacon Tree and i love what they are doing, focusing on the whole family.
It was after talking to a group of parents that I brainstormed the basis of my next presentation which will be mostly parents at Shady Grove YMCA. Parents are always asking me and I give the same answer and finally I decided to present it and reference the blog post so they … Read more...
9 things you can do to prevent suicide, build resilience in your kids
Free 11-page ebook: 9 Ways to Help Your Kids Build Resilience
If you have an actively suicidal child in imminent danger, you need to call 911 or your local crisis hotline. Here are local Richmond, VA crisis hotlines.
See my disclaimer here but suffice to say that these are my thoughts based on presenting to teens, parents, social workers and from my training. I’m not a social worker or psychologist. Just my experience as a mother who lost a son to suicide as a result of depression and substance use disorder.
These are tips you implement regardless of whether … Read more...
Anne Moss’ Interview with America Out Loud: Dr. Stem Show
Turning Pain into Purpose, Starting a New Chapter after a Devastating Loss
Dr. Stem is a really good interviewer, pointing out and focusing on particular points that are of interest to parents of teenagers. I so enjoyed doing this interview and I hope you get something out of it. Please share if you would.
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Dr. Stem is a Licensed Psychotherapist, International Best Seller, Teen-Parent Expert, Wellness Coach, Certified Passion Test
Why is a psychological evaluation important?
Richmond has a trauma informed care network (TICN) for which I am a member. I presented to this group on suicide and mental illness and how my family was treated in Virginia. I did talk a lot about the fact that we never got a diagnosis in this state, even when I begged for one.
Maybe this isn’t surprising when you consider Virginia ranks forty nine for services related to major depression. Lack of a diagnosis didn’t seem to stop anyone from prescribing medication. The methodology is “throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.” If you are … Read more...
Was I a failure as a mother?
When my child killed himself, the first thing I thought about– when I could, in fact, think– was that he left because of something I didn’t do right. How crummy a mother was I that my child checked out on me? I saw it as a failure at the one job that meant most to me in the world, ushering my child to successful adulthood.
When I look back and start to beat myself up, something that doesn’t happen as often as it once did, I have to remember I didn’t know then what I know now. And I can’t … Read more...
Feedback for Resilience Exercise with Teenagers
I did an event for the Regional YMCA Leader’s Club Rally. Leader’s Club is a club for teens. I so enjoyed myself. I asked the rally coordinator, Janice, for feedback. Since it was the first time I’d done this suicide prevention and resilience type exercise with the teenagers, I felt like it went well due to the engagement but couldn’t know for sure. I started with my story and was entirely emotionally naked about how I felt when I heard the news and how I fought back to forgive myself after my son’s suicide and what I learned in that … Read more...
Googling ways to die
Below is a comment I got on this post meant to, hopefully, divert those googling ways to die and provide hope, understanding and maybe prevent a suicide. I thought you guys might want to see a message from someone who suffers from mental illness and suffers periodic thoughts of suicide. Those of you who’ve lost a child to suicide may wonder why your child didn’t think about how you would be effected. Sometimes the thoughts overwhelm that. But just know there may have been many times they thought about it but didn’t follow through for fear of what it would … Read more...
Black heart— #griefheart number 280
I see references in Charles’ music to his black heart. He felt like he was ashamed because of the darkness in his soul.
I hear that a lot from those with mental illness. They think they are not worthy of friends, of a family’s love, or life. That darkness is part of the disease of depression, bipolar, and other mental illnesses. People who suffer often feel ashamed of it.
So I’m celebrating those who suffer from a black heart, died from a black heart and all the moms and dads out there that love someone with a dark heart. Like … Read more...
You should be with other mothers of dead children
I love being with other parents who’ve lost a child. No one understands my pain more than other members of the club no one wants to be in. But I also want to be with my old friends, too.
The thing is, after Charles died, I was in fear of losing my old friends–friends who had not weathered a tragedy like this. I was afraid if I let on how sad I still was or how much I missed Charles, or talked too much about my loss that those friends would label me as Debbie downer and no longer want … Read more...
How to share posts from Emotionally Naked
1-minute 44-second video to show you how to share posts from this site because a number of you have asked. This one is parked on this “submit a story” page. I hope this helps those of you who struggle with technology. I do appreciate your shares and they are making a difference. I wanted to make sure you kept it up because it’s saving lives.
My son, his suicide, and a fractured family
by Jeanette Robius
As I’ve said to Anne Moss on many occasions, I just don’t know where to start. The tears immediately begin to well up and stream down my face as I contemplate writing this on this bleak and cold Sunday morning.
Last Saturday, March 3, 2018, was 5 long years since losing my youngest son, Garrett, to suicide. I can still see that day so clearly in mind when I received the news. NOTHING could have been more out of the blue or knocked me any harder.
Garrett was the younger of my two sons. He and his … Read more...
It wasn’t about me
(image: Angry Charles in Wilderness Treatment)
As I go through Charles’ song lyrics typing them up, I am struck once again at the level of creative genius and the sheer volume of music that expresses both pain and anger (there are very few published here). Pain from depression. Resentment for the way he was. Anger from having been sent away and put on layaway.
He knew he had a gift that came with a curse. He was so amazingly self-aware, yet stubbornly incapable of changing direction to save himself. And yes, there are instances he wants to do … Read more...