September 10th marked Suicide Awareness Day.
Help is available at this very moment from 1.800.SUICIDE (1.800.784.2433), or Talk Suicide Canada at 1.833.456.4566. The local crisis line can also be reached at 310-6789 (no area code required).
For those who have lost someone to suicide, September 10th is a day of recognition and mourning. For those who haven’t, it is meant to bring tragedy into the light and open up a dialogue about it. For example, it is a myth that checking in and asking a depressed person if they are feeling suicidal is harmful or risky; in fact, this is likely what they need in order to bravely open up.
I have found that, due to stigma and fearing being misunderstood, people rarely talk openly about having mental health challenges, let alone feeling suicidal. As a result, they feel terribly alone and at times take drastic measures to escape their pain.
There is reason to live, and reason to fight to survive… even if it doesn’t feel that way today. Perhaps you can’t believe it in the moment because depression has wrapped a dark film around your perception of life and the world, but if you let others help you hold that belief, the moment will pass and you will feel well enough to reach out and grasp onto hope again.
Know that there’s no need to suffer in silence, and you’re not the only one in your midst who is distressed or who knows what this feels like. Reach out to someone – anybody. Seek a counsellor or therapist if you can’t share this heavy secret or burden with anyone else. Things can and will get better, but they won’t if you’re already gone.
If you need support and could use a helper and companion in the form of a book, check out You Will Get Through This Night, by Daniel Howell (2021). It takes an insightful and unique approach with its 3 Parts: “This Night,” “Tomorrow,” and “The Days After That.” It acknowledges that in the darkest of days we often need strong help just for the moment. Yet we also need to make improvements to our reality to help us get through a lifetime, not just a night or two; this latter idea is vital, but comes later once we have made it through the crisis and are ready and able to challenge ourselves further.