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Jenny's Story
After losing my 20 year old son in 2005 to suicide, I now have a new title after my name. I’m a Survivor of Suicide. My whole paradigm has been changed by this tragedy. Instead of attending my son’s graduation from the University of North Carolina where he was a student at the time of his death; I attended the Overnight Out of the Darkness Walk in New York City. Instead of planning for his wedding; I plan for Community Out of the Darkness Walks. Why did this happen to a loving, compassionate, intelligent, promising poet and author? Why wasn’t the loving, caring, close- knit family, with involved parents enough to prevent this from happening? Why didn’t the counseling and antidepressant drugs fix the problem? In an attempt to keep my own sanity and to be more righteous, I’m turning away from the “Why’s” and towards the “How’s”. How can we prevent this nightmare from happening to another family? How can we reach our young promising future citizens to teach them about other ways of dealing with depression? How can we help our soldiers who have seen the horrors of war learn to deal with their nightmares and live productive, happy lives? How do we give hope to the individuals who have lost it all with our current economic conditions?
These answers lie in showing the depressed, horrified, and down trodden people that we care. We care enough to develop and implement Suicide Prevention workshops. We’ll keep working through research to see what really provides relief and help. We’ll work to educate all to the signs of suicide and the simple actions that diet, exercise, and the support that a community can provide. The burden does fall on the community. That is where the people are. But we need the help and support of all the powers that be to accomplish this overwhelming task. No one is exempt from this tragedy as has been shown in recent days by the publicized deaths of prominent people. From the successful fashion designer, actor, and a child from a star of strong religious faith; suicide hits us on all levels and at all ages.
Good mental health is a must to obtain a strong, caring, productive nation of peoples.