Bursting my bubble – the work that needs to be done in suicide awareness and lethal means safety

This past week has been hard for all of us.  17 more innocent lives lost.  It brings to the forefront arguments that have been given time and time again, some correct, some incorrect. I am not going to get into them all, but wanted to touch upon a “conversation” from today via Facebook. Continue reading

Death – our only guarantee

As far back as I can remember, I thought about death. I remember as a teenager, there was once a disagreement in the house, and I yelled, this is stupid, you can’t leave mad, what if I walked outside, tripped on the curb, and broke my head open, how would you feel?  Okay, maybe I was a bit dramatic as a teen… I also remember when Meet Joe Black came out, and after watching it, bawling my eyes out, I had one word, This. Death is the only guarantee we have in this life. Continue reading

A Sense of Purpose

Thomas Joiner, MD has an amazing book called “Why Do People Die by Suicide.” He proposes many theories on the why.  People who die by suicide have a desire to die and have overcome the natural instinct we all have for self-preservation.  With that desire, he found two things often occurred:  there is a perception of being a burden to others and a social disconnect to something larger than oneself (a sense of isolation). Combine that with an acquired capacity, learned ability, or fearlessness, you have someone with a very elevated risk of suicide.  Continue reading