Since it is, of course, National Suicide Prevention month, I thought I'd share this great new PSA by James Earl Jones, supporting Hopeline, as well as two other organizations I love, PostSecret and To Write Love On Her Arms.
We've spent the past week on the unit talking in the groups I run about secrets, and the way secrets will fester and become shameful and toxic when, had you just let the information see the light of day in the first place, it would've been just fine. Secrets become like monsters in the closet; when you turn on the light, you realize it's only the vacuum cleaner. Privacy is one thing; but secrets destroy.
Start talking, people. Everyone thinks they're the only one, but they're not. If we talked openly about things like depression, self-injury, sexual abuse and assault, and suicide, if we splayed them out to the light of day, we'd probably end up with a lot less to talk about in the long run.
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4 comments:
When I used to give those presentations about child abuse in public schools, one of my bullet points was that no one should ever tell a child to keep a secret. For smaller kids, we explained the difference between a secret (something you never EVER tell) and a surprise (something you will tell later, like a birthday party).
A follow up from yesterday. Be independent--strong willed--stubborn
AND TALK TALK TALK OR WRITE WRITE WRITE.
I agree-----let loose.
course I talk and write tooooo much!!!!
enjoy your weekend at the beach Carol
That was a nice vid.
Almost made me cry.
When I was in my late teens or early 20's, there was this girl I went to the college age singles church group with who was ALWAYS professing to be suicidal, always threatening to kill herself. I mean to the point where it got obsessive. Everyone bent over backwards to try and help her and get her outside help. Then, in the midst of all of THAT drama, a totally different young woman- really killed herself. It was a shock. I wasn't close to her, but no one knew anything was wrong. If anyone was going to kill themselves, it would have been the one that was always talking about it, right?
That experience kind of taught me that just because someone professes to be suicidal, doesn't mean they are. Think about it: if someone really wanted to kill themselves, they would just do it. If you are telling your therapist, your friends, your church members, etc, then guess what? YOU DON'T really want to kill yourself, because you KNOW those people are going to talk you out of it. I would put this vid on my facebook page, but there are a lot of people from that church group on my friends list. Even now, ten years later, there are probably a lot of fresh emotions from that fiasco.
To Danielle--she was independent, strong willed and stubborn and did the deed.
The other one is just plain weak but wants the attention.
Dr. Kate knows!!!!!
Carol---not sure if you and Dr. will read this----
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