Suicide Prevention With TreasureLives and How You Can Help

My Story: 

Many people do not know how much suicide and attempted suicide has impacted my life. In my lifetime, I've had a couple of friends commit suicide, but I'm not going to get into that. It isn't my place to tell their story. I will tell this- when I was 9, I first learned about suicide. 

We had a chicken coop that was not completely covered- just the nesting boxes were. So, we had to make sure to keep the chickens' wings clipped. Normally, this would have been my mom, dad, me, and both my brothers doing this- my mom especially loved working with the chickens. However, on this day, my mom decided to stay in the house and do some baking. Something felt off to me, but maybe a storm was coming. I had no idea how right I was. 

Dad sent me in to get him a glass of tea. As I walked through the front door, mom reached the top of the refrigerator and got the pistol and walked out the front door- almost like she didn't even realize I was there. I asked where she was going and all she said was "Don't follow me!" I knew something was wrong. I ran to my dad and told him what happened. At first, he thought she might have seen something she was going to check out on the property, but I told him what I knew in my heart and he took off. A while later, mom and dad came back down the hill from the woods. Dad put the gun in his car and got mom in the bed. We were instructed to leave mom alone. The next day everything was normal and it was never spoken of again until I was an adult. Mom explained what was going on in her head and I understood.  As much as that changed my life, I cannot imagine how much it would have had mom succeeded. 

Years later, I got a phone call that my uncle "PeeWee" committed suicide and my world was rocked. I never imagined he, of all people, doing that. I knew I had to do something to help make a difference. 

Then, I Met Melody:

Melody contacted me about doing a little work for her. When I found out what her mission was, I knew I had found my place. Melody's mission with TreasureLives is: Learning From Lives Lost and Celebrating Lives Saved From Suicide.

I'm not going to tell you much about TreasureLives here, as I want you to check out the site and read about Melody, her brother John, and TreasureLives. I think you will like what you read and see why this is such an important organization.

How You Can Help:

Here are several ways that you can help spread the word about TreasureLives and help prevent suicides 

1. Share content from the site

2. Use hashtags #PauseNotStop #TreasureLives #AwesomeHero #ZeroSuicides

3. Smile at a stranger

4. Donate to suicide prevention & mental health awareness (see how TreasureLives is trying to help on the homepage. 

5. Tell your story

6. Be an #AwesomeHero and encourage people. 

7. If you have a site, we would love for you to share. You can contact me (carionmedia@gmail.com or Melody at melody(at)treasurlives(dot)org)

8. Don't Bully!

9. Help #BreakTheStigma of mental illness by not judging people by what they cannot help.

10. Listen to those around you.