Deana Bossio is the Suicide Prevention Mama
It is my passion to preserve all life and prevent any kind of suicide. Colorado is 6th in the nation for the total number of suicides in a year. Suicide among kids, white middle-aged men and active and former military personnel are seeing a dramatic rise in suicides.
People don’t talk about suicide and they don’t talk about the who, what, how and where either. Therefore, the topic of suicide is rarely discussed and very misunderstood.
Picture yourself drowning in the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean represents all of your problems, real and perceived. Like the waves, your problems are getting bigger and higher. You feel like you’re sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean with no life raft to be seen. You can’t even think about asking for help because the wave of problems just keep hitting you in the face and pulling you down deeper and deeper. And then you take your last breath before being consumed by the ocean’s depths of problems.
People don’t want to die, they want their problems to stop hurting and overwhelming them. They can’t see over the waves and therefore don’t even cry out for help. That’s what drowning is. That’s what leads to utter desperation, isolation and suicide.
I have a family member who twice had thoughts of suicide; once due to bullying and the other due to a concussion.
Talking about suicide doesn’t increase the chances of it happening. Actually, it decreases and can prevent someone from killing themselves.
Know the warning signs and/or circumstances:
loss of job, loss of a spouse and/or child, loss of a home or any other perceived significant loss, poor grades in school, bullying, low self-esteem, flunking out of school, illness, physical disabilities, financial bankruptcy, alcoholism, legal and illegal drug abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical abuse, & any other real or perceived trauma in someone’s life
An additional contributing factor to suicide is mental health drugs. These drugs cause delusional thinking, hallucinatory thoughts, suicidal and homocidal ideations. It’s hard to imagine that something that is supposed to help actually causes more harm.
WHAT TO DO:
Keep your eyes, ears and heart open to a friend, family member or even a stranger. Usually, people who are having thoughts of suicide leave some subtle clue by saying statements like: “I’ve never been under so much pressure.” Or “I can’t imagine life getting any better.” “I just don’t see a way out.” They sound down and are feeling hopeless.
It is helpful to reach out and ask someone, “Are you thinking about killing yourself?”
If they say “No” then ask, “Well if you were, how would you do it?” If they are having thoughts of suicide they will then tell you how they would do it. KEEP THEM SAFE by staying with them or by keeping them on the phone until help arrives.
Call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1.800.273.8255
You can save a life by talking about suicide!
