Anthony Steels: Don’t Be Sidelined By Suicide

And finally here is the seventh post I want to share this week to wrap up Suicide Prevention Awareness Week:

Anthony Steels: Don’t Be Sidelined By Suicide

September 5th, 2014 by  Gabriela Acosta  0 
Filed Under: 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention, Blog Carnival, Mental Health, MSW@USC Blog, Social Work Resources,Suicide Awareness and Prevention, Uncategorized

This post was submitted to the 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention campaign by The Kim Foundation .Don’t Be Sidelined  is a mental health public awareness campaign created through the collaboration and support of various non-profit and health and human service organizations across the state of Nebraska. The Don’t Be Sidelined campaign is led by The Kim Foundation and was launched in September of 2012 in partnership with Husker Sports Marketing.

Don’t Be Sidelined is a public awareness campaign that focuses on mental health and suicide prevention. The campaign has kicked off its third year, and is reaching thousands of people throughout Nebraska, the United States, and even internationally, with the message that mental illness is treatable, and suicide is preventable.

We are appealing to people who are personally experiencing challenges with their mental health but haven’t yet sought help, to encourage them to take that first step by asking for help. Anthony Steels is a former Nebraska Husker and retired NFL player who has battled severe depression, but is now living a successful, fulfilled life in recovery. Anthony serves as the spokesperson for Don’t Be Sidelined, and in this brief radio spot encourages others to join him in building awareness about suicide prevention and mental health. He talks about his struggles and journey to seek help, while emphasizing the staggering statistic about suicide that more than 38,000 people die by suicide each year.

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call 800.273.TALK or visitDontBeSidelined.com for more resources. Join Anthony, and all of our partners at Don’t Be Sidelined, in raising awareness about mental health and increasing the understanding that suicide is preventable. Together, we can get those impacted, back in the game.

Don’t Be Sidelined PSA Transcript

Hi I’m Anthony Steels, former Husker and NFL player. For years I struggled with depression and for years I dealt with it alone, but with the encouragement of my friend Tom Osborne, I sought help. Unfortunately, not everyone seeks the help they so desperately need. More than 38,000 people die by suicide each year. National Suicide Prevention Week is in September. Join us in building awareness to this critical topic. Help is available. Suicide is preventable. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call 800-273-TALK or visit dontbesidelined.comfor more resources.

If you or someone you know is struggling please reach out. Help is available!

Stand Against Suicide: Educating About Suicide And Mental Illness

Here is the sixth post I want to share this week in support of Suicide Prevention Awareness Week:

The following post was submitted to the 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention campaign by Stand Against Suicide, which is a nonprofit organization started in 2011. Their Mission is to raise suicide awareness and prevention by educating about suicide and mental illness.

By Becky Voss
Contributing writer

Through determination and support from others, Elbridge resident Tara Olmstead Kinsella-Dennee has found the strength to turn a personal tragedy into something positive, for herself and others.

On July 16, 2008, Kinsella-Dennee received a phone call saying her father had taken his own life. Wayne Olmstead was 50 years old at the time of his death. He left behind a wife; daughter, Tara; a granddaughter; three step-children; nine step-grandchildren and many friends.

Olmstead was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in his 40s. According to Olmstead-Kinsella, his disorder was usually kept under control with proper medication and counseling.

However, when Camillus Cutlery closed, Olmstead lost his job along with his health insurance coverage.

In turn, he no longer had access to medical care and prescriptions. Although he tried to find alternate employment and reached out for help several times, he wasn’t able to pull himself out of the depression this time, Kinsella-Dennee said.

“After my dad’s suicide, I wasn’t sure what to do,” she said. “I didn’t have anybody to reach out to. My family and friends were amazing, but couldn’t really relate to what I was going through, even though they tried. I kind of just went on with my life as if it didn’t happen.”

Kinsella-Dennee said she was left with many unanswered questions. She wondered, “Why? Was it really that bad? How could he do this to us? Was there something we could have done differently?”

She researched mental disorders and suicide rates and was shocked at the statistics. That’s when Kinsella-Dennee decided to take a stand.

Tara Dennee, of Elbridge, founder of the suicide support group Stand Against Suicide, meets with the group at her mother’s home in Elbridge.
In 2011, she launched, Stand Against Suicide, a non-profit organization with the mission to raise suicide awareness and prevention by educating about suicide and mental illness.

So far, the group is focusing on gaining name recognition by attending community events.

“We try to attend some of the more diverse events,” Kinsella-Dennee said. “So many of the larger suicide prevention organizations only target certain age groups or areas. We try to branch out to reach those that may not have been able to connect with somebody.”

For example, Stand Against Suicide participated in the Syracuse Nationals and the Emerson Park Father’s Day Car show.

“There is such a broad range of people that attend large car shows that we were able to reach out to many different people; families, elderly, children, teenagers, you name it,” said Kinsella-Dennee.

“Then we attended the controversial K-Rockathon this year. We had some of the most positive feedback yet. We also attended a large, heavy metal concert, the Trespass America Tour, and got even more positive feedback. We really like to hit the areas that others wouldn’t think to.”

Stand Against Suicide volunteers meet at Louanne Weatherspoon’s home in Elbridge. The group’s founder, Tara Dennee, of Elbridge, is facing toward camera at left. The woman facing the camera at right is Kelly Blackburn, Camillus. Back to camera at left is Debi Geroux, of Oswego, and at right is Lauren Dodge, of Liverpool.

At each event, volunteers offer support, a listening ear and provide brochures that focus on depression, warning signs of suicide and background information on the organization.

“We participate in community events to promote our message and raise funds,” Kinsella-Dennee said. “One hundred percent of our profits go back into the organization. There are no paid volunteers.”

The group will be at the Jordan Fall Festival, Sept. 21 to 23. And, it will host its first Take A Stand, Save A Life Community Walk Sept. 29 at the Inner Harbor in Syracuse.

Money raised from the events help fund initiatives, including a “sympathy basket” sent to the newly bereaved, containing the book, “No Time To Say Goodbye,” handmade “Hope” bracelets, Stand Against Suicide T-shirts, and personal items like coffee and mugs, slippers, bathrobe and candles. Each basket is individually made.

In addition to support, the group acts as a community liaison.

“We also make every effort to connect people with the proper organizations to get the help they need,” Kinsella-Dennee said. For example, a woman whose husband suffered from PTSD and was a veteran, was referred to a veteran’s association near them,” said Kinsella-Dennee. “Many people think you can just “Google” everything, but some people don’t have that technology and need our help to make the connections.”

According to Kinsella-Dennee, there are different programs available in the community to assist those in need of prescription coverage.

“Had I known this four years ago, maybe we could have gotten help for my dad,” she said.

After one year, Kinsella-Dennee said that the group is off to a good start.

“Our name is getting out there. The more events we attend, the better off we are,” she said. “We are gaining momentum … in fact, we are very close to being able to open our peer-based group therapy center.”

She said that will happen within the next six months to a year. Meanwhile, volunteers are training to conduct these groups.

Kinsella-Dennee wants people living with the suicide of a loved one to know that they are not alone.

“First and foremost, we really do know how you feel,” she said. “We understand that your life feels as (though) it has been shattered into a million pieces, and it has. We know that you are on a very long, hard road to recovery. We know how you will go through a million different emotions and feelings at one time. But most importantly, we know that with proper support, you will get through it.”

About suicide:

More than 36,000 people in the United States die by suicide every year.

In 2009 (latest available data), there were 36,909 reported suicide deaths.

Suicide is the fourth-leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 18 and 65 in the United States.

Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.

A person dies by suicide about every 15 minutes in the United States.

Every day, approximately 101 Americans take their own life.

Ninety percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.

There are four male suicides for every female suicide, but three times as many females as males attempt suicide.

There are as many as 25 attempted suicides for every suicide death.

Youth Suicide is the sixth-leading cause of death among those 5 to 14.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among those 15 to 24.

Risk factors for suicide among the young include suicidal thoughts, psychiatric disorders (such as depression, impulsive aggressive behavior, bipolar disorder, certain anxiety disorders), drug and/or alcohol abuse and previous suicide attempts, with the risk increased if there is situational stress and access to firearms.
Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s website afsp.org

To learn more:
Visit standagainstsuicide.org for more information about Stand Against Suicide or to help support the organization.

If you or someone you know is struggling please reach out. Help is available!

Nothing Special? One Teen’s Initiative to Prevent Suicide

Here is the fifth post I want to share this week in support of Suicide Prevention Awareness Week:

The following post was submitted to the 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention campaign by Luke Maxwell. Luke Maxwell is the founder of ucantberased.com (“you can’t be erased”), a website designed to break the stigma of teen depression and stop the epidemic of suicide in our country today, especially among Catholic youth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 percent of high school age teens suffer from clinical depression and one in 12 has attempted suicide. Luke has appeared on television and radio, has been featured in newspapers, and speaks to teens and parents about this life-saving topic.

Luke, like one in four teens, struggled with clinical depression. In December 2012, he attempted suicide and thankfully survived. He sought treatment and is now active in suicide prevention work with other teens who suffer from depression and self-harm. Luke started the first support group in his area and has started the website ucantberased.com so that teens struggling with mental health can find a community which will encourage them to seek proper treatment. This is Luke’s story:

Everyone longs to be special, noticed and loved. I’m no exception. You might recognize this as the theme of “The Lego Movie,” which was released this year. I want people to love me just as much as Emmet, the main character, does. And, like Emmet, it took many struggles before I realized the truth.

As a child, I was happy and lived life to its fullest. But, unfortunately, this didn’t continue into my teenage years.

Around the age of 12, I began to think differently. Although my parents and siblings loved me, I couldn’t feel it. I started to struggle. I didn’t know I was dealing with major depressive disorder. I was suicidal. And nobody knew.

Every day was filled with apathy, fatigue and constant confusion. I was almost in physical pain. I doubted reality because I couldn’t believe it was possible to have such a terrible life. I couldn’t sleep at night, and that’s when I imagined how I would escape and finally be happy and free. But as time went on, those fantasies turned to darker thoughts: I started to plan how I would kill myself.

I was sick. Plain and simple. But I didn’t know it.

After four years, I gave up. I couldn’t handle the torment and I couldn’t figure out how to make it stop. December 3, 2012. I was 16. And I was done. I bought into the depressed mindset that told me I was nothing special, and the world would never miss me when I was gone.

I was supposed to clean the family’s 12-seater van, but before I went out, I left a note. After pretending to clean for a couple of minutes, I jumped into the driver’s seat. As I roared out the driveway, I searched for a way to end my pain. I spotted an SUV traveling in the opposite direction.

Accelerating, I swerved and slammed head on into that oncoming vehicle — no seat belt at 60 miles per hour. The crash was horrific. Both cars rolled in midair, and were completely totaled. And I had survived. Nothing in my plan had prepared me for this.

I was arrested for assault, for purposely driving my van into an occupied vehicle, and taken to the hospital. Miraculously, I was completely unharmed.

I was admitted into a mental facility, diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and started treatment. As my recovery progressed, I realized I was special, and I needed to help other teens in the same situation see how much they impact the world, too.

I looked for a support group of teens like me, but there wasn’t one, so I started the first of its kind in my area. I also created a place online —ucantberased.com — so those struggling with depression and self-harm know they aren’t alone and can recover if they tell someone and find treatment. They are so special, and their stories can touch so many.

You might be wondering what happened to the other driver in the SUV. His name is Lenny Ross, and he was injured but survived. We are now close friends who share a desire to help other youth. He and his wife are expecting a baby soon — a baby that wouldn’t be here if Lenny had been killed that day.

So, just as Emmet discovers that he is special, like everyone else, I now know I’m my own unique person. You are, too, but the disease of depression can make you think otherwise.

I am here, unashamed, to let you know that you are important — indelible. That depression isn’t who you are, it’s what you have. And it can be defeated.

Remember, you can’t be erased.

My unbelievable journey through teen depression, attempted suicide, hope, and redemption.

If you or someone you know is struggling please reach out. Help is available!

Military Spouses Matter Enough To Seek Help

Sorry I missed posting this yesterday. Here is the fourth post I want to share this week in support of Suicide Prevention Awareness Week:

The following testimonial was submitted to the 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention campaign by Liz Snell. Snell is a Marine Corps spouse of 13 years with more than 10 years of experience volunteering and working in organizations that make a positive impact on the military community. She holds a master’s degree in Strategic Management and Leadership from Western Governors University. In 2013, she founded Military Spouses of Strength , an initiative to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health within the military community. She lives in the greater San Diego area with her husband and their two children.

Like many military spouses, my life became consumed by all of the things related to my husband’s career. This, coupled with my responsibilities as a wife and mother, made me begin to feel as though I was losing a part of myself. I no longer knew myself at my core, or even knew my interests and dislikes.

The breaking point for me came during my husband’s fifth deployment. The roles and responsibilities of a military wife were beginning to get to me. I was single-handedly taking care of the home, children, cars and finances while trying to fulfill my own needs of a college education and bringing in additional income by working. I was doing all of this while having a smile on my face — pretending that nothing was eating at me on the inside. As spouses, there is a silent understanding that seeking out help is a sign of weakness. I went the duration of the deployment with an increasing level of depression. This manifested into suicidal ideations by the time my husband returned home.

Thoughts of killing myself were daily — if not hourly — and debilitating. Eventually, I found the courage to check myself into a mental health facility where I was treated for two weeks. I was released to my husband’s care with guidance for him to monitor me at home for an additional two weeks.
Fortunately, I am not a statistic. I didn’t go through with the act. I was a good actress, and fooled my friends and family as to what I was really feeling. But I do think that I left silent signals, hoping that someone would realize my distress.

During my spiral into depression, I began to get snappy with my kids and others. My sleeping patterns became erratic and the quality of my work at school began to falter. I cried at the silliest of things.

On their own, these are not drastic enough signals to guess that I was depressed, but together they are all clues that something was wrong. Maybe no one saw these as clues, and maybe no one added the clues together. It is irrelevant. What matters is that I now know these clues for myself. If I come to a point where I feel myself beginning to slip again, I have learned that seeking help is not a form of weakness, but is the strongest thing you can do.

I have learned that I matter, not because of what I do but because of who I am, and you matter too.

If you or someone you know is struggling please reach out. Help is available!

The Moments That Change You

Here is the third post I want to share this week in support of Suicide Prevention Awareness Week:

Heidi Bryan: The Moments That Change You

The following post was submitted to the 100 Voices for Suicide Prevention campaign by Heidi Bryan. Heidi, who battled depression and is a suicide attempt survivor, founded the Feeling Blue Suicide Prevention Council after losing her brother to suicide. Among other accomplishments, she has served on the Board of Directors for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and was Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN) USA. This is her personal story about struggling with depression. 

I believe most of us have had flashes of insight or epiphanies and know their impact on our lives. I’ve had two, and they have truly changed me.

The first was after my older brother’s suicide. I was talking with a friend when it hit me. Just as alcoholism “talks” to you, tells you one drink won’t hurt or you’re not really an alcoholic, so do other diseases like bipolar disorder, depression, or being suicidal. Only these diseases tell you that you’ll be doing everybody a favor, they’ll get over it, or it will be such a relief for other people not to have you weighing them down.

I bet this is what my brother was thinking when he killed himself, and you know what? He was wrong. We won’t get over it, and he wasn’t doing us a favor. How do I know this? These were my thoughts, too. Six weeks before his death I was planning my own suicide. I had a plan and a back-up plan and a back-up plan to the back-up plan. I was waiting for the opportunity to present itself. But his death changed all of that.

So it hit me: “If he was wrong, and it’s not true for him, that it was his disease talking to him, then it’s not true for me.” I didn’t feel it, or think it, or believe it, but I now had the evidence in front of me and I knew it to be true; suicide was no longer an option.

Flash forward five years. I’m in therapy, I’m on medication, and I’m doing much, much better. In fact, I like life and living. So it was a typical evening and I was watching the TV show “Boomtown,” a short-lived but very good show set in Los Angeles that examined crime from every viewpoint — police, witnesses and even the criminals. Donnie Wahlberg plays a police officer whose wife had attempted suicide recently. In the episode that night, he came home but he didn’t see his wife right away. He raced through the house and opened the bathroom door — where he had found her when she had attempted suicide— and she was taking a bubble bath. She turned to look at him and immediately saw the panicked look on his face. She turned her face to the wall.

I couldn’t get the scene out of my mind. I went to therapy that week and my therapist had also seen the show. He thought she turned away in anger, but I told him that no, it was shame.

On the way home it hit me. I remembered a time when I talked to my therapist on the phone when I was agitated, upset and suicidal, and I hung up on him. I called him back, but still. Then I thought of my husband. Did he ever come home and not find me right away and get scared? Emotions flooded me and I thought, “How could you have put them through this? How scared they must have been. How horrible it must have been!”

I went to work the next day and asked my husband to meet me for lunch. Crying, I told him about the show, my realization, and how sorry I was to put him through that. He said that it was OK; it was just that one time. During my next therapy session, I told my therapist everything and apologized to him. He said he believed I would always carry that realization with me, and he was right. I’ll never forget those feelings and never want to put anybody through that again.

If you or someone you know is struggling please reach out. Help is available!