In the past two weeks, I’ve received texts about one attempted and one completed suicide. My heart aches for the families of both of these individuals. I recently found out that Michael’s death began a string of suicide attempts in our community. This absolutely breaks my heart. When we lose someone to suicide, we are often so overcome by our own grief that we fail…
This week is National Suicide Prevention Week. Sadly, I woke up this morning to a message from friend who is a military chaplain overseas. She shared that yesterday (which was World Suicide Prevention Day), she conducted a memorial service for a fellow serviceman and friend who died by suicide. It breaks my heart each time I hear of another person who was so overcome with…
I recently interviewed with a fellow suicide survivor, Leah Slack Stirewalt, on her blog. I met Leah a couple of years ago at SheSpeaks (a writer’s conference). We both felt instantly connected as we shared our stories and enjoyed a sweet time of prayer together. She too, lost her husband to suicide. We have stayed in touch over the years, and it is so refreshing to…
My heart grew heavy as I read about the double suicide of the radio hosts in New York City last night. So many people were shocked – especially because the woman was a former psychotherapist. We tend to think that certain “types” of people are immune to suicidal ideation – counselors, ministers, teachers – but the truth is, there are times when we are all…
I would love to be able to report that the number of people dying by suicide has declined, but I can’t. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that someone completes suicide every 13.7 seconds. That statistic once again became much more real for me last week. One of my dearest friends lost a family member to suicide. The dying are husbands, fathers, brothers,…
Someone recently shared this link with me and I was so moved, that I wanted to share it with you. Lacey Sturm, a singer in the band Flyleaf, talks candidly about her past as an atheist and her plan to complete suicide. There are times when we have no idea that someone we love is contemplating suicide, and there are times when warnings ring out…