Stories about Lived Experience
I Have Learned That My Voice Has Power
Coming from a deeply religious family involved in mission work and realizing at the age of 11 that she was gay and would have to keep it a secret or try to “pray it away,” Kris Williams knows what it’s like to grow up feeling different.
Building Support for the 988 Lifeline in North Dakota
Sarah had lived with anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide since she was 12, and attempted to take her life soon after graduating college. Inspired by her first Out of the Darkness Walk, she began volunteering with AFSP.
By Sharing My "Ugly Truths," I helped Pass Lifesaving Legislation
Angela Perry has been instrumental in Oregon’s advocacy efforts for the past several years, helping to lead successful efforts on bills related to support for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, as well as for suicide prevention training for mental health professionals.
Training to Become a Volunteer Advocate for Suicide Prevention Felt Like a Gift
In January of 2016, I lost my 18-year-old nephew to suicide. The loss was devastating. Being an AFSP Volunteer Advocate has helped me process my own personal experiences, and be braver in standing up for my own needs, those of my family, our community, and all humans. We’re all in this together.
A Haunted Girl: A Father and Daughter Collaborate on a Horror Comic Miniseries That Reflects Their Own Scary — but Ultimately Hopeful — Journey With Mental Health
A Haunted Girl is a four-issue graphic novel horror miniseries written by acclaimed comics writer Ethan Sacks, alongside his daughter Naomi. The main character’s inner journey deeply involves mental health, as she returns to high school after a stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Acknowledging My Dark Night: My Mission to Support Suicide Prevention in the Construction Industry
Construction has the second highest rate of suicide in the U.S. While we have not historically discussed mental health in construction, we are an industry that truly cares about our employees, and we must create an environment where they can share their emotions and struggles.
Navigating Out of the Darkness
I think a big misconception is that those with lived experience are selfish or weak. We are neither. Mental health can be like a labyrinth, and it takes a lot to navigate out of the darkness.
Does Everything Really Happen for a Reason?
While I still struggle with the concept of whether everything happens for a reason, my own experiences have led me to this conclusion: that while we cannot ever fully control the negative experiences that happen in our lives, we can use them to shape our lives and paths for the better.
I Walk Because My Life is Worth Living
I walk because suicide prevention matters to me and isn’t spoken about enough. No one should suffer alone or in silence. I walk because my passion in life is to share my experiences in hopes that they can help someone else.
Removing the Shame from Eating Disorders and Suicide
I’d love to share with you a bit about my story and my recovery from shame, suicidal ideation, and my eating disorder – in hopes that it will help someone else find life beyond their eating disorder.
Facing the Pain
My first suicide attempt happened at age 13. When I left the hospital, I told my parents about the sexual abuse. I was asked to “pretend it didn’t happen.” Drugs and alcohol became my solution, and – in a way – kept me alive for many, many years.
The Other Side of Hospitalization
When I was 17-years-old, I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder. I’d been battling with depression since early middle school, but had tell-tale signs of hypomania by my junior year of high school. My depression getting worse was what ultimately led me to seek out a psychiatrist, and learning of my new diagnosis.
Being Who I Needed When I Was Younger
There is no community or school district that doesn’t have people needing to hear the specific message that it is okay to be who they are, and have that be backed up by a willingness to connect them to truly affirming services that meet their needs for mental health care, medical care, housing, advocacy, and more.
I Want to Grow Up: Seeing a Future After Attempting Suicide in Grade-School
For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with anxiety. My earliest memory of it was in the first grade. I talked in class, trying to make a friend – unfortunately, I did it while the teacher was speaking. She got angry, and made me walk to the front of the class. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Mental Health and the Military: Asking for Help When You Need It
I am a survivor of suicide loss, having lost a first cousin, a second cousin, and an Air Force son to suicide. I am also a survivor of suicide ideation.
Learning to Live for Myself
I went home that night, and for the first time in a very long time, felt I could breathe again.
Depression Hell: White-Knuckling Mental Illness After a Suicide Attempt
I then went into what I call Depression Hell. I was inconsolable for months. I decided to head to Nashville to make a name for myself – and when I got frustrated with that, I became more and more depressed. It was at this point that I began to experience suicidal thoughts.
Making a Difference in Our Healthcare System: Thoughts from a Suicide Attempt Survivor
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are otherwise in crisis, know this: you are cherished. You are important. You can move beyond this and make an indescribable impact on the world around you. Please don’t give up. Help is always available.
Providing Tools and Understanding for People Caring for Those At Risk for Suicide: AFSP’s Finding Hope Program
I am more than my attempt and my illness. I have found a way to manage my depression thanks to the support of my husband, my family, my friends, and, of course, resources like AFSP’s important new education program, Finding Hope: Guidance for Supporting Those at Risk.
What It Means to Be a Suicide Prevention Advocate: Making a Difference in My State
As a result of the dedication and perseverance of local field advocates, AFSP has become a lead voice in Oregon’s suicide prevention efforts statewide and played a large role in the enactment of several mental health and suicide prevention laws over the last three years.
Providing Care and Support for the LGBTQ Community Following a Suicide Death
How a suicide loss in the LGBTQ community is handled can set the tone for the public’s response. You might hear, “They died by suicide because they were transgender.” Too often, explanations about a suicide death are reduced to a person’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. However, suicide is far more complex.
Can a Young Child Have Suicidal Thoughts?
Can a young child really have suicidal thoughts? This is a question I’m sometimes asked when I’m presenting educational programs in my role as the Virginia Area Director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It’s a question I would have been likely to ask, myself, years ago.
My Why Is Also Me
Now my Why is not only the person I helped to save when I was 18 – and over a dozen other people close to me who have struggled with depression, anxiety, and/or suicidal ideation. My Why is also me.
How AFSP Saved My Life Twice
I didn’t realize, then, how important that word would become to me: I was a survivor.
Why I Draw Comics About My Depression
Around the same time I was feeling suicidal, I started drawing my thoughts and feelings, and posting them on Instagram as a comic series about living with depression. I wanted to show some of the (sometimes darker) humor and absurdity in feeling sad or anxious all the time, and named my series “Just Peachy Comics.”
Finding Strength from Your Achilles’ Heel
Speaking openly about my own struggles, sharing my story and having a #RealConvo about mental health has led me to a deeper understanding of both myself and others, and turned my former Achilles’ heel into a source of strength and power.
My Year of Being Brave
Ten years ago, I was planning my suicide. I never imagined I would survive the attempt, let alone that I would become an advocate for suicide prevention on both the state and federal levels, finding a passion in pushing for smarter mental health policies and in helping others to find hope.
How Will I Explain My Experience with Depression to My Son?
The following is an abridged version of an article comedian Chris Gethard wrote following the premiere of his acclaimed HBO special Career Suicide. The original article can be found here.
My Lived Experience
Melanie Figaro
Taking a Virtual Campus Walk for Suicide Prevention
Infinitely grateful for a second chance at life following my suicide attempt, I decided to put my efforts into the cause of suicide prevention, knowing it could save lives in the same way it saved mine.
Why Wait to Make a Difference?
To learn more about our exciting work and read other Volunteer Spotlight Stories, see our 2019 Annual Report.
Students Against Suicide
My first year of college shined a spotlight on my mental health.
Finding Your Moon
If you are in your own forest of uncertainty right now, I urge you to look up. Find your moon, or take a moon perspective. Do not give up.
Volunteer Spotlight: Camila Pulgar, on the Family of Loved Ones with Lived Experience
To get involved, find your local chapter and check out the volunteer opportunities at the array of programs and events offered year-round!
A #RealConvo Video: Comedian Gary Gulman on the Importance of Reaching Out
Comedian Gary Gulman talks about the importance of having a #RealConvo, and reaching out for help when you need it.
Without Judgment: Helping Others Heal from a Suicide Loss
There is help available for those who are suffering and for those who have lost a loved one to suicide. It’s okay not to be okay.
Talkin’ Baseball
I’ve realized that for me, my mental health is tied to making connections with others.
Brave
I felt like life just wasn’t for me.
The Number 25
As I reflect on the past fourteen years since I lost my brother, I reflect on all my highs and lows, and am proud of the person I am.
Hope in Rainbows
While I still have highs and lows, I feel confident that I have the proper support in place to deal with them.
Depression Is What I Have, Not Who I Am
How do you ask for help, when you don’t even know how to explain what you’re going through to yourself?
There Is A Light
What helped was talking to other people about my pain. This was what saved my life.
The Burden of Me
I’m boundlessly grateful for all the care and love I received when I was sick, and I know now that I was worth it.
I Am Still Here
If you’re like me, you have experienced a moment: a point in time in which you felt you could go no further, that no version of your future could be worthwhile. Perhaps you’ve had many of these moments. Living with the daily struggle of a mental health condition, this sort of moment can feel like a lifetime.
When My Brother Took His Life, I Wanted to Follow
"Neither grief nor acceptance has a deadline. Time is all we have. So, I continue to utilize my time, to nurture and love myself every day."
What I Want People to Know About My Suicide Attempt
"I still pass that section of the highway all the time. I stand tall today, affected by my experience, but still alive."
How Sharing My Mental Health Story is Like Coming Out
This post is presented in collaboration with Active Minds, the national organization dedicated to empowering students to speak openly about mental health.
Walking with a Purpose
Each time I attend a walk it feels healing to be within a community of people who understand and are there to support one another.
It’s Okay Not to Be Okay
It is okay not to be okay. No one is perfect. We all have something we’re dealing with. The more we share, the easier it is to heal and live a healthy life.
Finding Strength, Help, and Hope by Having a #RealConvo
As difficult as it was to go through all of this, the hardest part was admitting I needed help. Reaching out for help was one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do, but I knew it had to be done.
My Second Chance
I embrace all of me, and all that I've been through, and use it as a force for good. It is in giving that we receive. My spirit is joyful. My soul is energized, and my mind is at peace.
Advice on Talking to Someone with Suicidal Thoughts…from Someone Who’s Had Suicidal Thoughts
What matters most is that you simply walk with them through this valley, and that you never, never, never give up.
I Walk Because My Mother’s Voice Lives On
My mom used to tell me she loved me nearly every day. We both said it any time we left the house, on every phone call, and after every fight, once tempers had cooled and the teen angst and single-mother stress died down.
Remembering Our Post-War Casualties
On Memorial Day, we remember those who served our country and died in combat. But what about the veterans who die by suicide after the war? Many of our troops fight a different battle, waged within their own minds, upon returning home.
The Five Biggest Myths About Crisis Text Line
Crisis Text Line provides free support at people’s fingertips, 24/7. Anyone in crisis can text us and we’ll support them, from their hot moment to a cool calm.
The Fifth Time is the Charm: Coming Out as a Two-Time Suicide Attempt Survivor
Coming Out as a Two-Time Suicide Attempt Survivor
Sharing my Personal Experience with Suicide at the White House
I am grateful to those who were brave enough to start the conversation, and it is through their bravery that I have learned to find my own.
Minority Mental Health Month: Why We NEED to be Part of this Movement
Minority populations need to be more involved with mental health because it is a silent killer in our communities.