Talk to Me

This week from Sept. 4th - the 10th is National Suicide Prevention Week. The Trevor Project is running a “TALK TO ME” campaign, where they encourage people to be available to those who need emotional support, especially if they’re thinking about suicide. They’ve asked people to place the “TALK TO ME” logo onto their Facebook accounts as well as embed them onto their blogs if they have one for one week. While that’s all find and good, to be honest with you, I don’t know one person who has put this logo up onto their website(s) who would actually sit down and take the time out to help someone in need of emotional support. Most who I have seen are only putting it up just for self-promotion and the sense of “looking like a good person”, when in fact it’s utter bullshit. Place it up so people can know you’re genuinely interested in helping them. Place it up if you care about another human being’s life in jeopardy. Place it up if you have the time and patience to care for another person who’s going through emotional turmoil. If that logo is up and you don’t have the time or day to speak to a person in need of your support, then take it down.

I know what it’s like to want to take your own life and have it worsened by the people around you not caring or understanding. I know the feeling of not having anyone to talk to, to trust, to safely turn to and not feel like it’s going to be used against you. Another thing I’ve noticed is that suicide prevention campaigns usually focus on teens and the LGBT community, all the while neglecting to mention how many midlife crisis cases are running rampant and all of the mothers who are going through postpartum depression, or the parents who have had their share of stressors in their lives. While it’s easy to say that most teens experience this and are more likely to carry their mission out - think about the pride and most of all, the wits and intelligence of an adult not voicing their desire to take their own life in fear they’ll be made a mockery of or looked down upon. There are huge stakes when it comes to an adult saying, “I wanna kill myself.” Most keep it quiet until it’s too late. So I’m asking all of my readers, to not only look for signs of depression/suicidal thoughts with their teen loved ones or within the LGBT community, but also look within your circle a bit more. Take a peek at the girl next door raising her child by herself, take a look at the guy who just lost his job and his wife, take a look at the people who have lost their homes recently due to the floods who have nowhere to stay other than a temporary couch at in a relative’s home.

Just take a look....before it’s too late.
Click here if you're willing to talk to someone in need. If you need someone to talk to, email me at deb@debrapasquella.com.

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