September 10, 2025 • 25 mins
In this moving episode released on World Suicide Prevention Day, Gretchen and Lisa open up about the global crisis of suicide and its far-reaching ripple effects on families, communities, and cultures. Together, they share survivor stories, lessons from around the world, and practical ways we can each be part of prevention and healing.
🎥 Watch the Video Podcast on YouTube: A video version of this episode is available here: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSurvivorsPodcastChannel
Episode Summary
This week’s conversation honors World Suicide Prevention Day with a heartfelt exploration of how suicide affects every culture, every community, and every family. Gretchen shares her personal survival story, Lisa reflects on her own losses, and together they challenge the stigma around saying the word suicide out loud. From the devastating statistics—over 700,000 lives lost each year and more than 94 million left grieving—to the simple yet powerful actions like sharing stories, holding space, and posting the 988 Lifeline, this episode reminds us that prevention starts with awareness and compassion.
Lessons Learned
- Suicide is a universal crisis that transcends race, religion, and geography.
- Every loss to suicide impacts at least 135 people, creating waves of grief and trauma.
- Open, honest conversations about suicide reduce shame and isolation.
- Small actions—sharing a story, posting resources, volunteering, or checking in on someone—can save lives.
- Compassion, connection, and collective responsibility are essential to changing the narrative.
Chapters
00:00 – Trigger warning & opening thoughts
01:13 – Why World Suicide Prevention Day matters
04:15 – The global impact of suicide and the ripple effect
07:04 – Survivor guilt, shame, and the importance of opening up
10:00 – Cultural differences in prevention and awareness
13:39 – Communities, resources, and raising awareness
15:27 – Using social media as a prevention tool
17:36 – How sharing personal stories reduces stigma
18:45 – The radiator metaphor: releasing heavy thoughts
20:58 – Learning from global practices
22:26 – Volunteering, advocacy, and journaling for reflection
24:23 – Changing the narrative one conversation at a time
25:14 – Suicide prevention as a shared human responsibility
26:06 – Closing reflections & reminders
📚 Resources for Mental Health & Support
🔹 The Survivors Podcast Website – https://thesurvivors.net/ 🔹 The HelpHUB™ – Mental health resources, tools, and support networks – https://www.thehelphub.co/ 🔹 Schoser Talent and Wellness Solutions – Mental wellness coaching & support – https://schosersolutions.com/ 🔹 Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads – A raw, award-winning mental health podcast – https://goesoninourheads.net/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
This podcast mentions suicide, mental illness, grief and loss
and may be triggering for some listeners. So please take care of your well.
Being by pausing or skipping any sections that feel uncomfortable to you.
And if you or someone you know is struggling, please call 988 for
support. Hey, girl. Hey.
Hey, girl. That just
(00:23):
sounded silly. So. Hmm. So
it's. It's interesting sometimes when. Well,
interesting is probably the wrong word. Exciting, good.
Coincidental. When these special
days that we have, these kind of marker days,
remembrance days, awareness days, fall on the day
(00:46):
that our podcast drops, like, that's just
good karma, I think. And today
is World Suicide Prevention Day,
and it would never be a day that
we would ever let pass by, ever. And I'm
just happy, happy, happy, happy that it's
(01:10):
on the day that we record our podcast. And
it's a reminder that suicide is not
just this local issue. And we get to
remind everybody that it's a global issue.
Every culture, every country,
every community is touched by this thing. And
(01:32):
you think about things that are
global kinds of things. And
having come out of a big global
pandemic only a handful of years ago,
you realize that there
(01:52):
are a small number of things that impact
everybody, and this is one of
those things. And
I love the fact that we have this opportunity today to just
reflect on how far reaching this
crisis is. Cause it's a crisis. I feel like it's a new
(02:13):
pandemic, to be honest with you. I think I've even said that before.
I think it is. And what makes me feel
the most uneasy is how affected children are.
Yeah. And vets are. Yeah,
yeah. It's. Everyone's affected. Yeah. I mean, it
(02:34):
doesn't matter where you live in the world. It doesn't matter what your religion is.
It doesn't matter if you're wealthy. It doesn't matter if you're on food stamps. It
doesn't matter whether you're single or
married or what you do in the
world. It doesn't matter because it impacts
everybody. And I love the fact
(02:56):
that you and I are here, not just today,
which is obviously symbolic, but we're here every week
being part of the solution. Because there. There
are things that we can all do individually, and there are all things that we
can do collectively as a country, as a people,
humanity, to change the
(03:18):
direction that things are heading in right now, because they are not heading in a
good direction. People are taking their lives
in record numbers everywhere because
suicide is so universal. And it's only
when we do what you and I do, what so many Others are doing.
Talk about it. Just. I'm not afraid to talk about it.
(03:41):
You're not afraid to talk about it. I wish everybody felt the same way, because
then everybody would be talking about the thing that we should be
addressing out in the real world, talking about it.
And there's no shame in saying the word
suicide. None. You know, like. Like Lisa just said,
it affects everybody. And it's not just a us thing. It's.
(04:03):
It's global from coast to coast.
And the fact that, like you said, that we get to talk about
this together today,
it's huge. I mean, it took one phone call for me
to make sure that I was still here today, but that was
two years ago. And I found that there's more and more
(04:26):
resources being made available to people, not just here in the States,
but globally. You know, people are. Identify, are recognizing that
this is truly like a pandemic. Pandemic.
It's sad and scary at the same time. It is. It is.
And you and I recycle this statistic a lot. We
did in last week's episode where we kicked off National
(04:48):
Suicide Prevention Month, we talked about how There are
over 700,000 people worldwide who die by
suicide every year. And that makes it the leading
cause of death across most age groups.
Because suicide doesn't discriminate. We just got through saying that. It does not discriminate. It
affects people of every race, gender,
(05:11):
color, culture, economic status. It doesn't make a
difference. And the ripple effect, that's the thing that
gets me every time. It's this ripple effect. With
every suicide, every single suicide,
135 people in that
person's orbit are directly impacted by that
(05:33):
loss. So that means over
94 million people in this world every year,
every year are navigating suicide,
grief and loss. And
it's so isolating. And you say 94 million people. That's
such a massive population of people. And yet
(05:57):
so much of that grief and trauma and
loss is happening in people's heads in
isolated ways. And
it doesn't show us the true scale of suicide loss,
because it's about more than just the people who we've lost that
(06:18):
way. It's about these vast
circles of people who are left behind. Like, I'm
one of those people. And
I can tell you from experience, I mean, I've lost three people I love to
suicide, including my dad. It is such an
incredibly isolating kind of loss.
(06:42):
It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it. And
the sad thing is, if you haven't experienced it yet. Wow, you
are so lucky because unfortunately you will
ultimately and then you'll understand.
There's so many pieces of it that just, they just don't
exist with other kinds of loss. They, they don't.
(07:05):
And the guilt and the shame that we
feel as survivors, what it coulda, shoulda, didn't
like all those things, everything
plays into this. But at the end of the day,
it also means that you need to take care of your own mental health.
(07:27):
That includes opening up, reaching out,
staying connected. These are all the things that we do for
our own day to day mental health. But think about
somebody who may have just lost their, their husband or
their wife or their girlfriend or a teammate
to suicide. They are grieving
(07:50):
in such a unique way that it's really
hard to pinpoint. And I think that
having these conversations and really talking openly
about suicide can help change the
narrative so that maybe like in five years from
now, it's not 700,000 people, maybe it's
(08:13):
only 500,000 people. As
long as the number goes down, that's what we have to focus on.
This is, it's not a US problem, not an Asia
problem, it's not a Europe problem, it's an everybody
problem. It's an everyday
problem. I didn't have the awareness that I have
(08:35):
now five years ago, but also
I didn't have plans to have a mental health breakdown either.
And now I'm way more aware of
the world around us and how
stigmatizing it still is. To say the word suicide,
(08:56):
like we need to stop. Okay, yeah, but,
but prevention looks very different depending on where you
are. I mean, I know that there are a lot of countries
where they're not
as vocal about mental health, where there is
still this expectation or perception
(09:18):
that people have to be
okay, have to keep performing, have to keep showing up, have to keep
working. And there is no time
to consider poor mental health. So there are still a lot of
cultures out there in the world that
I don't want to say ignore, because that's probably the wrong word. But
(09:40):
don't consider, don't focus on,
don't deal with mental health in the
ways that let's say we are in this country, for instance.
And so it looks very different depending on where you are in the world. Like
the issues are the same. There is stress everywhere,
depression, anxiety, people are burnt out, people are
(10:03):
overworked. I mean, there are so many similarities.
No matter where you are, what language you speak, but
the way that people deal with them, it's so different. You know, Some
countries don't have a hotline. Most do. I will
say that because on my platform on the Help Hub,
(10:25):
I have a link to the vast majority
of country hotlines in the world. And I can tell you
that there are probably at least
175 country hotlines on the help
hub right now. And yet there
are countries that don't have that kind of
(10:47):
accessible, you know, dial a few digits and
get help kind of solution. You know, there's
school based education here. People are considering mental
health and wellness more on college campuses and in high schools
and in elementary schools than they ever have before.
I certainly don't think that it has risen to a
(11:09):
level that it should yet, but it's trending in the right direction,
that's for sure. And communities are getting engaged. I look at
my own community and I look at the wellness programs that my
own community is offering
for its residents and
it's powerful. It's oftentimes the thing that can
(11:32):
save someone's life just to know that there's a resource available in
their own city or their own hometown.
Struggling with your mental health? Feeling lost, overwhelmed,
or just alone? Well, you're not. Welcome to the Help
Hub, your online destination for mental health resources,
content and tools to help you navigate whatever mental health
(11:54):
challenges you are facing in the moment. At the Help Hub, we
offer individualized resources tailored to your unique needs and
community, with over 16 different categories to find
exactly the kind of personalized help you need when you need it most.
Because even though we all deal with many of the same challenges, we don't
always experience those challenges the same way. So whether you're looking
(12:16):
for crisis support, downloadable resources, or an
extensive archive of mental health related articles and videos, we've got
you. From episodes of the Survivors Podcast for Suicide Loss,
Survivors Lived Experience, blogs, to interactive
tools and professional connections, the Help Hub meets you where you
are and helps you move forward with strength and support.
(12:39):
Remember, you don't have to do this alone. Visit
thehelphub.co today.
I can tell you here in the state of New York,
in like the last five or six
months, I've seen a lot of commercials for the 988
(12:59):
crisis line, which warms my heart because
for years we didn't talk about it and
now they're starting to talk about it. And
even here in rural upstate New York,
those resources are still needed. But you're right, in
lots of other places in the world, they don't have a
(13:23):
dedicated line. People are dependent
on on their community or their friends or
even a Bystander to help them kind of
figure out what's going on in their head. Yeah,
I think so much of it
(13:44):
revolves around this common thread of
compassion and commitment that we have to each other
to look after each other and keep each other well.
And that's not something that everybody wants to
do. The fact of the matter is that
people can get selfish and self centered and
(14:08):
people in a lot of cases have
a lot of difficulty just navigating their own day to day. They don't have
the bandwidth or the capacity to, to help anybody else
to navigate theirs. So becomes
an issue of self preservation, I think, in a lot of ways.
(14:28):
And not enough people being willing to be the bystander,
to be the one to help the person who's in crisis, who they maybe
don't know or don't have a connection to. But again, I mentioned this over
and over again when you and I have this kind of conversation that I do
believe very strongly that it's our collective responsibility to
look after each other and
(14:51):
to do the things that are in our capacity to do, like
holding space or checking in or just
heightening our awareness about what's going on around us. Like we don't live in a
vacuum. We don't live on our own little planets alone. We're here with,
you know, hundreds of millions of people and at some
point we're going to have to start considering each other on a different, deeper level.
(15:14):
And I don't really think there's a better time to do that than on World
Suicide Prevention Day when mental illness
is taking so many people away
from us. And my challenge to the
listeners is to actually post something on social
media about World Suicide Awareness Day. Because
(15:38):
somebody may see that message and be like, hey, I know
somebody that could use some help. Somebody's going to
see that message and you will touch them in a way that they, that you
didn't think that you would. But it's so important to
get that information out there. Absolutely. And
something else that I feel strongly that we all should do and I
(16:00):
do it myself. So this is not just me saying, hey, go do this thing
that I don't do. I do this on the, you know, on a regular
basis. You know, stories
connect people. Stories
allow us to see ourselves in someone
else in ways that maybe we didn't
(16:22):
before, we couldn't before. So if you have
a story or you've had a struggle, and I feel like
we all have, and we all do go through these things in
one way or another, talk about it, talk
about it openly. What better time
than now and reason than
(16:44):
something like World Suicide Prevention Day to share
an experience that you may have had that changed things for
you for the better. Like, oh, I started seeing a therapist. I was really depressed.
I started seeing a therapist and now things have changed
for me. For the better. Or I held space for someone
who was so desperate they didn't want to be here anymore, and
(17:08):
now they're here and they got help because I took the time and I held
space. Like, that encourages somebody else to hold the space. That encourages somebody
else to make the phone call, to call 988 or call a therapist or
to be vulnerable. So
when we can share our own
experiences with struggle, whatever that
(17:31):
struggle is, it reminds people that
they're not alone. And I feel like that's one of the very biggest
things that we can do because we keep all of these heavy,
hard, toxic thoughts just locked away in our heads
and they're in our bodies and it
permeates everything and it overtakes
(17:53):
us. And I want
people to think about the old fashioned radiators
that were around back in the day. Like
when I was little, you had to twist the
little knob on the bottom of the radiator to
bleed the radiator so the steam came out. Did you have those?
(18:15):
Yes. Okay, I want you to. Let's play a game. I want you to answer
this question. When you do
not bleed a radiator, what happens? It
blows up. Right. What happens
when you bleed the radiator and turn the little
dial to let what's inside out? Maybe slowly,
(18:38):
maybe cautiously. But what happens?
It starts to slowly dissipate. I love that
you use the word dissipate. I was really hoping. I think I just channeled that
word to you. That was like some good mind connection.
So that's the whole point. That's what I'm talking about here. That's what we should
all be doing. Yes, this is World Suicide Prevention
(19:00):
Day, and yes, this is National Suicide Prevention Month.
But these are the things that we should be thinking about and acting on
all the months of the year, all the days of the year,
because mental illness does not take a holiday.
Mental illness does not just pop up on, you know,
(19:22):
the third Friday of every other month. This stuff
is with us all the time. So we need to be actively engaged
in these conversations. And yes, these awareness days are
great because they elevate these conversations to the top,
but then they slip back down when that
(19:43):
month or that week or that day is over. And they can't. We
can't afford to let that happen. We have to
be actively talking about these things and actively working
toward changing these narratives and these
behaviors that we all have to just keep everything inside. We have to
bleed the radiator all the time. You have to.
(20:04):
And for those of us that, like, are
holding all that in. Stop.
Please open up to somebody, anybody.
There's. There's a willing soul out there
ready to listen to you.
And try to expand
(20:28):
your perspective the way. And I don't mean you like yours,
I mean you in general. Try to expand your
perspective. Try an exercise. I'm going
to do this actually when we're done recording. I'm going to do this because I
just had this idea. I'm going to go do it.
Go research what other people in other
(20:50):
countries do to
support their mental wellness and share it.
I'm going to do that. Share
shows that suicide is truly a shared
global issue and that we can be learning
things from each other
(21:13):
in such dramatic ways if we started
paying attention to the things that each other is doing right.
And so I. I'm going to. To
get off of this recording and I am going to Google
what other countries do and
(21:34):
maybe it's something they do in the Netherlands. They have. What is it? Hugi. Is
that. What am I mutilating? What it is the word. I think you're
mutilating the word. I might be mutilating it. It's like
this concept of calm. It's this philosophy around, like calm
and serenity and peacefulness in your home. I think I absolutely
mutilated the word. But
(21:57):
there are cultures that. That are
doing things right. And this is not to say that we aren't here. We're.
You and I are here in the United States and there's a lot we do
right here and there's a lot we do wrong for sure.
So I think that when we're having a
conversation about World Suicide Prevention Day,
(22:19):
let's look at the people around the world who are doing the
good things to prevent the thing that we're trying to prevent. So. So
I'm going to do that and I'm going to report back and,
and also too, in terms of doing things like actively
doing things. Volunteer.
Volunteer in your community, your city, your town.
(22:43):
Be an advocate. And that might mean something as simple as
posting the 988 crisis and suicide Lifeline on your
social media. Mike G. Suggested or donate.
Go to the American foundation for Suicide Prevention. Go to the Trevor Project,
Go donate and do what
you can to help the bigger picture
(23:06):
that's what we should be doing when we talk about doing
things on a global scale.
One other thing I wanted to throw out there, it isn't just
necessarily about doing something for the benefit of other people.
Yes, obviously that's a big part of it, too. But
(23:26):
I think it's important that we stop for a second and we reflect a little
bit on what today is and what it really signifies. Like, it's really
heavy, you know, we're talking about an issue that is
a terribly hard issue
to navigate that exists around the world.
Maybe just spend a few minutes
(23:49):
journaling about it. What do you think about suicide? Have you ever asked yourself that
question? How do you feel about it? Do you want to secretly, on a piece
of paper in your own private little journal, say, wow, that's a super selfish thing
to do. Say it if that's how you feel, or
light a candle or spend a few
minutes silently contemplating what
(24:11):
it all means if you've been affected, how it's made you feel, what
you're afraid of, and then try and do something
to change it. I love this
conversation, and I think it's just so poignant at this point in
time that we can change the
(24:31):
narrative one conversation at a time,
just like what you and I are doing right now. Yeah.
Here's the thing. When we take action
either within ourselves or even just
on local levels, even though we're doing
(24:52):
these things locally in our little area of the world,
we're still part of something bigger. We're part of
this global movement. And that's the thing
about an issue like suicide. In particular,
suicide prevention. It's not limited to
borders. It's a shared human responsibility.
(25:14):
So I don't know about you, but I am taking
responsibility today and all the other days, and I
hope that everybody else who's listening
will do the same. Same here. And
just remember, be kind. Yeah, ain't
that the truth. I can't wait to do this again with you next week.
(25:37):
But I've really, really appreciated this
conversation and I love you a lot. I love you, too. I'll see you next
week. Boo. Thanks for joining us
on the Survivors. Remember, no matter how tough things feel, you are
enough. And the world needs you just the way you are. You're not alone in
this journey. There's a community here, and every step forward counts.
(25:58):
We're so grateful you took the time to listen, and we hope you'll take one
day at a time. Just know there's always more light ahead.
Thanks for being here, friends. Just remember, help is out there
in. So many different places. So if you or someone you know is struggling,
please call 988 and a trained crisis counselor like me will be
there to help. You can also find an inclusive and comprehensive directory of
(26:22):
mental health resources, tools and
content@thehelphub.co. just remember that help
is always just a call or a click away. We'll catch you next week.
In the meantime, keep surviving.
This podcast mentions suicide, mental illness, grief and loss
and may be triggering for some listeners. So please take care of your well.
Being by pausing or skipping any sections that feel uncomfortable to you.
And if you or someone you know is struggling, please call 988 for
support. Hey, girl. Hey.
Hey, girl. That just
(00:23):
sounded silly. So. Hmm. So
it's. It's interesting sometimes when. Well,
interesting is probably the wrong word. Exciting, good.
Coincidental. When these special
days that we have, these kind of marker days,
remembrance days, awareness days, fall on the day
(00:46):
that our podcast drops, like, that's just
good karma, I think. And today
is World Suicide Prevention Day,
and it would never be a day that
we would ever let pass by, ever. And I'm
just happy, happy, happy, happy that it's
(01:10):
on the day that we record our podcast. And
it's a reminder that suicide is not
just this local issue. And we get to
remind everybody that it's a global issue.
Every culture, every country,
every community is touched by this thing. And
(01:32):
you think about things that are
global kinds of things. And
having come out of a big global
pandemic only a handful of years ago,
you realize that there
(01:52):
are a small number of things that impact
everybody, and this is one of
those things. And
I love the fact that we have this opportunity today to just
reflect on how far reaching this
crisis is. Cause it's a crisis. I feel like it's a new
(02:13):
pandemic, to be honest with you. I think I've even said that before.
I think it is. And what makes me feel
the most uneasy is how affected children are.
Yeah. And vets are. Yeah,
yeah. It's. Everyone's affected. Yeah. I mean, it
(02:34):
doesn't matter where you live in the world. It doesn't matter what your religion is.
It doesn't matter if you're wealthy. It doesn't matter if you're on food stamps. It
doesn't matter whether you're single or
married or what you do in the
world. It doesn't matter because it impacts
everybody. And I love the fact
(02:56):
that you and I are here, not just today,
which is obviously symbolic, but we're here every week
being part of the solution. Because there. There
are things that we can all do individually, and there are all things that we
can do collectively as a country, as a people,
humanity, to change the
(03:18):
direction that things are heading in right now, because they are not heading in a
good direction. People are taking their lives
in record numbers everywhere because
suicide is so universal. And it's only
when we do what you and I do, what so many Others are doing.
Talk about it. Just. I'm not afraid to talk about it.
(03:41):
You're not afraid to talk about it. I wish everybody felt the same way, because
then everybody would be talking about the thing that we should be
addressing out in the real world, talking about it.
And there's no shame in saying the word
suicide. None. You know, like. Like Lisa just said,
it affects everybody. And it's not just a us thing. It's.
(04:03):
It's global from coast to coast.
And the fact that, like you said, that we get to talk about
this together today,
it's huge. I mean, it took one phone call for me
to make sure that I was still here today, but that was
two years ago. And I found that there's more and more
(04:26):
resources being made available to people, not just here in the States,
but globally. You know, people are. Identify, are recognizing that
this is truly like a pandemic. Pandemic.
It's sad and scary at the same time. It is. It is.
And you and I recycle this statistic a lot. We
did in last week's episode where we kicked off National
(04:48):
Suicide Prevention Month, we talked about how There are
over 700,000 people worldwide who die by
suicide every year. And that makes it the leading
cause of death across most age groups.
Because suicide doesn't discriminate. We just got through saying that. It does not discriminate. It
affects people of every race, gender,
(05:11):
color, culture, economic status. It doesn't make a
difference. And the ripple effect, that's the thing that
gets me every time. It's this ripple effect. With
every suicide, every single suicide,
135 people in that
person's orbit are directly impacted by that
(05:33):
loss. So that means over
94 million people in this world every year,
every year are navigating suicide,
grief and loss. And
it's so isolating. And you say 94 million people. That's
such a massive population of people. And yet
(05:57):
so much of that grief and trauma and
loss is happening in people's heads in
isolated ways. And
it doesn't show us the true scale of suicide loss,
because it's about more than just the people who we've lost that
(06:18):
way. It's about these vast
circles of people who are left behind. Like, I'm
one of those people. And
I can tell you from experience, I mean, I've lost three people I love to
suicide, including my dad. It is such an
incredibly isolating kind of loss.
(06:42):
It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it. And
the sad thing is, if you haven't experienced it yet. Wow, you
are so lucky because unfortunately you will
ultimately and then you'll understand.
There's so many pieces of it that just, they just don't
exist with other kinds of loss. They, they don't.
(07:05):
And the guilt and the shame that we
feel as survivors, what it coulda, shoulda, didn't
like all those things, everything
plays into this. But at the end of the day,
it also means that you need to take care of your own mental health.
(07:27):
That includes opening up, reaching out,
staying connected. These are all the things that we do for
our own day to day mental health. But think about
somebody who may have just lost their, their husband or
their wife or their girlfriend or a teammate
to suicide. They are grieving
(07:50):
in such a unique way that it's really
hard to pinpoint. And I think that
having these conversations and really talking openly
about suicide can help change the
narrative so that maybe like in five years from
now, it's not 700,000 people, maybe it's
(08:13):
only 500,000 people. As
long as the number goes down, that's what we have to focus on.
This is, it's not a US problem, not an Asia
problem, it's not a Europe problem, it's an everybody
problem. It's an everyday
problem. I didn't have the awareness that I have
(08:35):
now five years ago, but also
I didn't have plans to have a mental health breakdown either.
And now I'm way more aware of
the world around us and how
stigmatizing it still is. To say the word suicide,
(08:56):
like we need to stop. Okay, yeah, but,
but prevention looks very different depending on where you
are. I mean, I know that there are a lot of countries
where they're not
as vocal about mental health, where there is
still this expectation or perception
(09:18):
that people have to be
okay, have to keep performing, have to keep showing up, have to keep
working. And there is no time
to consider poor mental health. So there are still a lot of
cultures out there in the world that
I don't want to say ignore, because that's probably the wrong word. But
(09:40):
don't consider, don't focus on,
don't deal with mental health in the
ways that let's say we are in this country, for instance.
And so it looks very different depending on where you are in the world. Like
the issues are the same. There is stress everywhere,
depression, anxiety, people are burnt out, people are
(10:03):
overworked. I mean, there are so many similarities.
No matter where you are, what language you speak, but
the way that people deal with them, it's so different. You know, Some
countries don't have a hotline. Most do. I will
say that because on my platform on the Help Hub,
(10:25):
I have a link to the vast majority
of country hotlines in the world. And I can tell you
that there are probably at least
175 country hotlines on the help
hub right now. And yet there
are countries that don't have that kind of
(10:47):
accessible, you know, dial a few digits and
get help kind of solution. You know, there's
school based education here. People are considering mental
health and wellness more on college campuses and in high schools
and in elementary schools than they ever have before.
I certainly don't think that it has risen to a
(11:09):
level that it should yet, but it's trending in the right direction,
that's for sure. And communities are getting engaged. I look at
my own community and I look at the wellness programs that my
own community is offering
for its residents and
it's powerful. It's oftentimes the thing that can
(11:32):
save someone's life just to know that there's a resource available in
their own city or their own hometown.
Struggling with your mental health? Feeling lost, overwhelmed,
or just alone? Well, you're not. Welcome to the Help
Hub, your online destination for mental health resources,
content and tools to help you navigate whatever mental health
(11:54):
challenges you are facing in the moment. At the Help Hub, we
offer individualized resources tailored to your unique needs and
community, with over 16 different categories to find
exactly the kind of personalized help you need when you need it most.
Because even though we all deal with many of the same challenges, we don't
always experience those challenges the same way. So whether you're looking
(12:16):
for crisis support, downloadable resources, or an
extensive archive of mental health related articles and videos, we've got
you. From episodes of the Survivors Podcast for Suicide Loss,
Survivors Lived Experience, blogs, to interactive
tools and professional connections, the Help Hub meets you where you
are and helps you move forward with strength and support.
(12:39):
Remember, you don't have to do this alone. Visit
thehelphub.co today.
I can tell you here in the state of New York,
in like the last five or six
months, I've seen a lot of commercials for the 988
(12:59):
crisis line, which warms my heart because
for years we didn't talk about it and
now they're starting to talk about it. And
even here in rural upstate New York,
those resources are still needed. But you're right, in
lots of other places in the world, they don't have a
(13:23):
dedicated line. People are dependent
on on their community or their friends or
even a Bystander to help them kind of
figure out what's going on in their head. Yeah,
I think so much of it
(13:44):
revolves around this common thread of
compassion and commitment that we have to each other
to look after each other and keep each other well.
And that's not something that everybody wants to
do. The fact of the matter is that
people can get selfish and self centered and
(14:08):
people in a lot of cases have
a lot of difficulty just navigating their own day to day. They don't have
the bandwidth or the capacity to, to help anybody else
to navigate theirs. So becomes
an issue of self preservation, I think, in a lot of ways.
(14:28):
And not enough people being willing to be the bystander,
to be the one to help the person who's in crisis, who they maybe
don't know or don't have a connection to. But again, I mentioned this over
and over again when you and I have this kind of conversation that I do
believe very strongly that it's our collective responsibility to
look after each other and
(14:51):
to do the things that are in our capacity to do, like
holding space or checking in or just
heightening our awareness about what's going on around us. Like we don't live in a
vacuum. We don't live on our own little planets alone. We're here with,
you know, hundreds of millions of people and at some
point we're going to have to start considering each other on a different, deeper level.
(15:14):
And I don't really think there's a better time to do that than on World
Suicide Prevention Day when mental illness
is taking so many people away
from us. And my challenge to the
listeners is to actually post something on social
media about World Suicide Awareness Day. Because
(15:38):
somebody may see that message and be like, hey, I know
somebody that could use some help. Somebody's going to
see that message and you will touch them in a way that they, that you
didn't think that you would. But it's so important to
get that information out there. Absolutely. And
something else that I feel strongly that we all should do and I
(16:00):
do it myself. So this is not just me saying, hey, go do this thing
that I don't do. I do this on the, you know, on a regular
basis. You know, stories
connect people. Stories
allow us to see ourselves in someone
else in ways that maybe we didn't
(16:22):
before, we couldn't before. So if you have
a story or you've had a struggle, and I feel like
we all have, and we all do go through these things in
one way or another, talk about it, talk
about it openly. What better time
than now and reason than
(16:44):
something like World Suicide Prevention Day to share
an experience that you may have had that changed things for
you for the better. Like, oh, I started seeing a therapist. I was really depressed.
I started seeing a therapist and now things have changed
for me. For the better. Or I held space for someone
who was so desperate they didn't want to be here anymore, and
(17:08):
now they're here and they got help because I took the time and I held
space. Like, that encourages somebody else to hold the space. That encourages somebody
else to make the phone call, to call 988 or call a therapist or
to be vulnerable. So
when we can share our own
experiences with struggle, whatever that
(17:31):
struggle is, it reminds people that
they're not alone. And I feel like that's one of the very biggest
things that we can do because we keep all of these heavy,
hard, toxic thoughts just locked away in our heads
and they're in our bodies and it
permeates everything and it overtakes
(17:53):
us. And I want
people to think about the old fashioned radiators
that were around back in the day. Like
when I was little, you had to twist the
little knob on the bottom of the radiator to
bleed the radiator so the steam came out. Did you have those?
(18:15):
Yes. Okay, I want you to. Let's play a game. I want you to answer
this question. When you do
not bleed a radiator, what happens? It
blows up. Right. What happens
when you bleed the radiator and turn the little
dial to let what's inside out? Maybe slowly,
(18:38):
maybe cautiously. But what happens?
It starts to slowly dissipate. I love that
you use the word dissipate. I was really hoping. I think I just channeled that
word to you. That was like some good mind connection.
So that's the whole point. That's what I'm talking about here. That's what we should
all be doing. Yes, this is World Suicide Prevention
(19:00):
Day, and yes, this is National Suicide Prevention Month.
But these are the things that we should be thinking about and acting on
all the months of the year, all the days of the year,
because mental illness does not take a holiday.
Mental illness does not just pop up on, you know,
(19:22):
the third Friday of every other month. This stuff
is with us all the time. So we need to be actively engaged
in these conversations. And yes, these awareness days are
great because they elevate these conversations to the top,
but then they slip back down when that
(19:43):
month or that week or that day is over. And they can't. We
can't afford to let that happen. We have to
be actively talking about these things and actively working
toward changing these narratives and these
behaviors that we all have to just keep everything inside. We have to
bleed the radiator all the time. You have to.
(20:04):
And for those of us that, like, are
holding all that in. Stop.
Please open up to somebody, anybody.
There's. There's a willing soul out there
ready to listen to you.
And try to expand
(20:28):
your perspective the way. And I don't mean you like yours,
I mean you in general. Try to expand your
perspective. Try an exercise. I'm going
to do this actually when we're done recording. I'm going to do this because I
just had this idea. I'm going to go do it.
Go research what other people in other
(20:50):
countries do to
support their mental wellness and share it.
I'm going to do that. Share
shows that suicide is truly a shared
global issue and that we can be learning
things from each other
(21:13):
in such dramatic ways if we started
paying attention to the things that each other is doing right.
And so I. I'm going to. To
get off of this recording and I am going to Google
what other countries do and
(21:34):
maybe it's something they do in the Netherlands. They have. What is it? Hugi. Is
that. What am I mutilating? What it is the word. I think you're
mutilating the word. I might be mutilating it. It's like
this concept of calm. It's this philosophy around, like calm
and serenity and peacefulness in your home. I think I absolutely
mutilated the word. But
(21:57):
there are cultures that. That are
doing things right. And this is not to say that we aren't here. We're.
You and I are here in the United States and there's a lot we do
right here and there's a lot we do wrong for sure.
So I think that when we're having a
conversation about World Suicide Prevention Day,
(22:19):
let's look at the people around the world who are doing the
good things to prevent the thing that we're trying to prevent. So. So
I'm going to do that and I'm going to report back and,
and also too, in terms of doing things like actively
doing things. Volunteer.
Volunteer in your community, your city, your town.
(22:43):
Be an advocate. And that might mean something as simple as
posting the 988 crisis and suicide Lifeline on your
social media. Mike G. Suggested or donate.
Go to the American foundation for Suicide Prevention. Go to the Trevor Project,
Go donate and do what
you can to help the bigger picture
(23:06):
that's what we should be doing when we talk about doing
things on a global scale.
One other thing I wanted to throw out there, it isn't just
necessarily about doing something for the benefit of other people.
Yes, obviously that's a big part of it, too. But
(23:26):
I think it's important that we stop for a second and we reflect a little
bit on what today is and what it really signifies. Like, it's really
heavy, you know, we're talking about an issue that is
a terribly hard issue
to navigate that exists around the world.
Maybe just spend a few minutes
(23:49):
journaling about it. What do you think about suicide? Have you ever asked yourself that
question? How do you feel about it? Do you want to secretly, on a piece
of paper in your own private little journal, say, wow, that's a super selfish thing
to do. Say it if that's how you feel, or
light a candle or spend a few
minutes silently contemplating what
(24:11):
it all means if you've been affected, how it's made you feel, what
you're afraid of, and then try and do something
to change it. I love this
conversation, and I think it's just so poignant at this point in
time that we can change the
(24:31):
narrative one conversation at a time,
just like what you and I are doing right now. Yeah.
Here's the thing. When we take action
either within ourselves or even just
on local levels, even though we're doing
(24:52):
these things locally in our little area of the world,
we're still part of something bigger. We're part of
this global movement. And that's the thing
about an issue like suicide. In particular,
suicide prevention. It's not limited to
borders. It's a shared human responsibility.
(25:14):
So I don't know about you, but I am taking
responsibility today and all the other days, and I
hope that everybody else who's listening
will do the same. Same here. And
just remember, be kind. Yeah, ain't
that the truth. I can't wait to do this again with you next week.
(25:37):
But I've really, really appreciated this
conversation and I love you a lot. I love you, too. I'll see you next
week. Boo. Thanks for joining us
on the Survivors. Remember, no matter how tough things feel, you are
enough. And the world needs you just the way you are. You're not alone in
this journey. There's a community here, and every step forward counts.
(25:58):
We're so grateful you took the time to listen, and we hope you'll take one
day at a time. Just know there's always more light ahead.
Thanks for being here, friends. Just remember, help is out there
in. So many different places. So if you or someone you know is struggling,
please call 988 and a trained crisis counselor like me will be
there to help. You can also find an inclusive and comprehensive directory of
(26:22):
mental health resources, tools and
content@thehelphub.co. just remember that help
is always just a call or a click away. We'll catch you next week.
In the meantime, keep surviving.
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