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Tag: suicide awareness

Neico Hayden’s amazing story of surviving a suicide attempt #Neicostrong

From Anne Moss: If someone tells you something about suicide, please take it seriously. Do not keep it “secret.” This is not to shed blame. We all overlook signs of suicide. What I’m asking you to do is to pay attention and be there. Make the call and warn a mom, a friend, a relative. 

I met Neico  Hayden (pronounced NEEKO) at the James River Out of the Darkness walk in May 2017. I saw him and his family in the parking lot and walked over to them. I had no idea he was a recent suicide survivor until his mother … Read more...

Breakup heart— #griefheart number 231

Breakup heart

When you drop something and it breaks, you have this feeling that you want to reverse what just happened. Like there is something you could have done to prevent it from shattering on the floor. Even in that brief second before it breaks you feel that sense of panic of, “What can I do to stop this from happening?”

Sometimes when you catch it before it breaks, you feel a sense of victory and you breathe a sigh of relief. There are times I so wish I had had that opportunity to save my son. Seen in coming … Read more...

What’s a teen to do?

A friend of yours is depressed,
Cutting, binging, purging, drugging,
Suffering suicidal thoughts,
And you don’t know what to do.

You’re not supposed to fix this,
But you also can’t dismiss it.
You have ears,
I know you do,
I’ve seen them attached
To your hairdo.
I know you’re able to listen,
It’s so easy to do!

You can encourage that peer
To tell an adult that she holds dear.
It might just be a mother,
A sister or a brother,
A teacher or a preacher,
Or the aunt with a hair transplant.

Then there’s always cousin Ed
who wears … Read more...

Facebook LIVE: Coming back to life after a suicide attempt

See this on Facebook (has all the comments)
Important highlights:
  • Recovery from mental illness is ongoing and not always perfect
  • Medication is a customized process that will take time
  • Suicide is the result of mental illness and seeing no other way out
  • For some, medication is an absolute necessity to prevent suicidal ideation and maintain a livable life
  • Family and a support system is vital to maintaining a recovery with mental illness
  • Looking for a therapist? If you can’t get a referral look online for your mental illness issue and then ask the receptionist
  • How do you broach the subject
… Read more...

Lipstick Heart – #griefheart number 46

Lipstick Heart
Lipstick Heart

This heart is to raise awareness for the 45% increase in suicide rates in females from 1999-2014.

Middle-aged women 45-64, had the highest suicide rate among women and the largest increase– a whopping 63%. For females 10-14 years old, the suicide rate increased threefold between 1999 and 2014, a particularly alarming statistic.

I believe lack of resources and lack of conversation regarding mental illness are just two of the reasons suicide has gotten this promotion. Chances are your children know someone at school who has either died by suicide, attempted suicide or talked about it.

Please have a conversation about suicide in your family. It … Read more...

Street Heart – #griefheart number 39

Street Heart
Street Heart

We went to the Westover Hills neighborhood picnic and I’m watching the kids play. I turn slightly to the left and there it was, staring me in the face in a big clearing calling my name.

I had been remembering how much Charles loved to play. Loved chalk, the bouncy thing, the balloons, the face painting. All of it. It’s way before he suffered from depression, felt suicidal, or succumbed to the lure of drug addiction. Back to a simpler time when a bad day was having your cake eaten by your dog. He refers to those days here in this song, Family Matters, … Read more...

Fractured Heart – #griefheart number 32

#griefheart
Fractured Heart

This #griefheart is in honor of Stephen B Sandknop, March 25, 1983-October 28, 2013. He was in a relapse from methamphetamine addiction and was having psychotic episodes and died by suicide when he jumped off his own apartment building in Hollywood, CA during a phone conversation with his mother, Randy. She didn’t find out until the next morning what had happened to him.

Stephen was a singer/songwriter and three of his songs are in movies. Here’s his YouTube channel. So many artists suffer from addiction and mental illness. This picture is donated by the photographer, his mother, to … Read more...