National Suicide Prevention Month: Awareness, Action & the Power of Connection
The Survivors PodcastSeptember 03, 2025x
12
00:30:0227.92 MB

National Suicide Prevention Month: Awareness, Action & the Power of Connection

In this candid episode, Lisa and Gretchen reunite to mark National Suicide Prevention Month with an unfiltered conversation about the realities of mental health struggles. Together, they explore the power of connection, the critical importance of vulnerability, and how small acts, like a text, a call, or asking “How are you really?”—can literally save a life.

 

 

Episode Description:
In honor of Suicide Prevention Month, Lisa and Gretchen dig into what it really means to take action—not just spread awareness—when it comes to saving lives. With compassion, lived experience, and hard-won wisdom, they explore how empathy, connection, and vulnerability can change the course of someone’s tomorrow.

 

 

Watch the Video Podcast on YouTube:
A video version of this episode is available here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSurvivorsPodcastChannel

 

This episode is proudly brought to you by Schoser Talent and Wellness Solutions
Struggling with employee burnout, high turnover, or clunky onboarding processes? Feeling overwhelmed by change or unsure how to support your team’s mental health in the workplace? You’re not alone. Welcome to Schoser Talent and Wellness Solutions—your all-in-one partner for building healthier, more resilient organizations.
👉 Visit: https://schosersolutions.com

 

Episode Lessons & Key Takeaways:
  • Awareness is not enough—action saves lives.
  • Connection is protection. A text, call, or check-in can be life-changing.
  • Take off the mask. Vulnerability isn’t weakness—it's healing.
  • Reframe the narrative. Practice positive self-talk and challenge shame.
  • You are not alone. The 988 Lifeline and countless resources are here for you.
  • Baby steps count. Healing doesn’t happen overnight—but it starts with one brave step.

 

Chapters:

0:00 – Intro & Sponsor: Schoser Talent and Wellness Solutions
1:06 – Why Suicide Prevention Month Matters
3:44 – Powerful Stats that Demand Action
5:24 – Gretchen’s Story: The Call that Changed Her Life
7:06 – Connection as a Lifeline
10:32 – How to Support Others (and Ourselves)
14:41 – Break the Cycle: Speak Up, Share, Support
18:25 – Positive Self Talk & Therapy Tools
22:08 – Prioritizing Yourself Without Guilt
25:26 – The Call to Action: Reach Out, Check In
27:39 – Final Words: Baby Steps, Always Forward
30:20 – Outro: You Are Enough 💜

 

📚 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/

 

📲 Follow & Connect With Us

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🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSurvivorsPodcastChannel

 

🎙️ See You Next Week!
Stay strong, keep going, and remember: You are enough. 💜

 

#TheSurvivorsPodcast #EndTheStigma #MentalHealthMatters #SuicidePrevention #YouAreNotAlone #BreakTheSilence #GriefSupport #988Lifeline #SurvivorStories #HealingTogether #PodMatch #MentalHealth #SuicideAwareness #Podcast #Community #Hope #Grief #Stigma #MentalIllness #Support #LisaSugarman #GretchenSchoser #SchoserTalentandWellnessSolutions #TheHelpHUB


00:00:01
The Survivors is brought to you by. Our friends at Schoser Talent and Wellness

00:00:05
Solutions. This podcast mentions suicide, mental illness,

00:00:08
grief and loss and may be triggering for some listeners. So please

00:00:12
take care of your mental well being by pausing or skipping any sections

00:00:16
that feel uncomfortable to you. And if you or someone you know is struggling, please

00:00:20
call 988 for support.

00:00:24
You and I have been apart for a while. A while.

00:00:28
Yep. Yep. Because I went off the grid for a little bit

00:00:31
because my daughter was here from out of the country.

00:00:35
And we just kind of huddled together as a little family, hugging

00:00:39
each other for two weeks. And I didn't get on my phone. I

00:00:43
didn't do anything. And it was the very best thing in the

00:00:46
world for my mental health. But now we're back, and I literally have not seen

00:00:50
your face live. That was the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other.

00:00:54
I know. It's kind of scary, right? I know, right? But we just slid right

00:00:57
back in like an old sneaker. So here we are. And, you

00:01:01
know, do you know what it is right this minute? I don't know. Tell

00:01:05
me. It's actually September.

00:01:08
And that means it's National Suicide Prevention Month. And we

00:01:12
are here to share that together and to talk about

00:01:17
all the things that need to be talked about

00:01:20
this month and all the other months. And it's that

00:01:24
time just to stop and just to pay attention

00:01:28
for a minute a little bit deeper than we usually do, and to

00:01:32
commit to being part of the solution. That's how I feel.

00:01:36
And I know that's how you feel it is. Because

00:01:40
when you think about all of it, all these awareness months, and

00:01:44
there are so many of them, and I do appreciate all of them,

00:01:47
especially this one. Awareness is important. But what I'm

00:01:51
learning is that awareness without any action to support

00:01:55
it, does not really accomplish a

00:01:58
lot. And in this case, it doesn't really save

00:02:02
people's lives. So I thought today

00:02:06
we could talk about how preventing

00:02:09
suicide goes deeper, way

00:02:13
deeper than just knowing all the

00:02:16
statistics. Like you and I talk about statistics all the time. But it's so much

00:02:20
more than that. It's about building a

00:02:23
culture, or in our case, a community, which is what you and I have been

00:02:26
doing now for a long time, where

00:02:29
compassion and care for each other and for what we're

00:02:33
all going through is at the center of that. So does that sound

00:02:37
like a conversation that you'd like to have? It would be a great conversation

00:02:40
to have because there's so much that plays into that.

00:02:44
Yeah, I mean, awareness itself

00:02:48
Is like, the tip of it all. And

00:02:51
when you think about it, like, okay, now I am going to talk statistics for

00:02:55
a second because it is relevant in the case of

00:02:58
suicide prevention month.

00:03:01
50 people like, these statistics blow me away every time I hear them, and I

00:03:05
talk about them all the time. 50, 50 people die

00:03:09
by suicide in the US every year,

00:03:12
roughly. That's one person

00:03:16
every 11 minutes. That's one of the stats

00:03:20
that really hits me. And I know that we've talked about the global

00:03:23
statistic a lot over the last couple of seasons, which is that

00:03:27
over 700 people die by suicide

00:03:32
every year around the world, or

00:03:35
one every 40 seconds, which, again, it's like, you know, I'm not a mathematically

00:03:39
oriented person, but there are certain things that. God, they just

00:03:43
hit me. That one hits me.

00:03:46
Yeah. I've been following a group on

00:03:51
Facebook, and they talk a lot about suicide

00:03:55
awareness and people that are grieving from suicide loss

00:03:58
and. And just the connection

00:04:02
and the community and really helping to try and prevent

00:04:06
more suicides. I feel like sometimes our messages fall

00:04:10
on deaf ears, but I want people to

00:04:14
realize that, you know, you are loved, wanted, and needed in this world, and the

00:04:17
world's a better place because you're here. And no matter how crappy

00:04:21
today feels, tomorrow could be way better.

00:04:25
Yeah. And in my case, that's what it was.

00:04:29
It's as hard as everything was on that Christmas Day,

00:04:33
life got so much better after I

00:04:37
finally got myself into therapy and started really realizing

00:04:41
what was important. Yeah. And that's the

00:04:45
thing that you can't see when you're in that

00:04:49
state of mind. And you would know this better having

00:04:54
been on the survivor side in terms of having those

00:04:58
ideations and wanting to end your life and

00:05:01
going so far as to look up how you were gonna do this

00:05:05
thing. You would know better than anyone

00:05:10
how you were feeling, how desperate you felt, and how

00:05:14
alone you probably felt with your wife downstairs.

00:05:18
Yeah. In the same place. Yeah. And it's gotta

00:05:22
be an awful feeling. And it was,

00:05:26
because here's what was going on in my head is I

00:05:29
couldn't fix what was going on, and I'm a

00:05:33
fixer. I couldn't make those feelings go

00:05:36
away, no matter what. I tried and I tried everything,

00:05:41
but once I made that phone call to

00:05:44
988, everything started to make sense.

00:05:48
I will say it again and again, the lady that answered that call that day

00:05:51
was the most compassionate person I've ever spoken to, and

00:05:55
she helped me see what was going on. But for people out there that

00:05:59
have never had those kinds of feelings before. Yeah, it's terrifying.

00:06:03
I was terrified. Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay, so

00:06:06
you saying what you just said makes me think

00:06:10
of a point that I think is so important to make this

00:06:14
month and in general when we're talking about suicide awareness

00:06:17
and prevention is that connection.

00:06:21
I'm thinking about your call to 988. And then after that,

00:06:25
I know the story. You reached out, you talked to your wife. You

00:06:29
slowly started talking to other people in your

00:06:34
community and in your family and so on, and there was a

00:06:37
ripple effect, but it was. It was connection. You made connection.

00:06:42
And that connection is a form of protection.

00:06:45
That's what I think. So many people don't necessarily understand

00:06:49
why. It's why you and I keep talking over and over and over again

00:06:53
about. Share your story. And. Okay, maybe you're just not

00:06:57
someone who wants to share your story. You don't want to write it. You don't

00:07:00
want to go on a podcast. You don't want to talk about it. You don't

00:07:02
want to post about it. Okay. That's your prerogative. You. You don't have to do

00:07:05
that. What you owe it to yourself to do

00:07:09
and what you owe it to the people who are close to you to do

00:07:13
is to reach out and connect with people. Because. And

00:07:17
here's the thing. Here's the reason why people who feel

00:07:21
that sense of belonging or that that connection are

00:07:24
significantly less likely to attempt

00:07:28
suicide. It's that isolation. It's that

00:07:32
loneliness. It's that. That are the greatest risk

00:07:36
factors and prevention. And you know this because

00:07:39
you do this all the time. Like you and I text each other all the

00:07:42
time and. And have open, honest conversations. You just

00:07:45
sending a simple text. I know every week you. You do that

00:07:49
with your people just to just. Just to check in, just

00:07:53
to give somebody a lifeline. And what we don't often realize is that those connections

00:07:56
that we have with people, even if it's a hello, that might be the only

00:08:00
connection somebody gets in a day. But it matters.

00:08:05
It does. You know, communication is huge. And

00:08:09
for the people out there that are extroverts and we all like to throw on

00:08:13
our masks and pretend everything's okay, maybe take your mask

00:08:16
off. I did.

00:08:20
Nothing horrible happened out of it. Actually, I ended up getting better

00:08:24
because I. I decided to say screw it with the

00:08:27
shame and the stigma and feeling weak because I couldn't fix

00:08:31
myself. And I was tired of feeling the way I was feeling.

00:08:35
And so my challenge to everyone out there is

00:08:39
Take that mask off and let people see you for who you are.

00:08:43
As hard as it is, people

00:08:46
still want to be able to talk to you. They still want to be able

00:08:50
to hug you. They still want to be able to text you.

00:08:54
Do it for you. Don't do it for anybody else. Do it for you.

00:08:57
Because the worst thing in life is

00:09:01
walking around feeling as depressed as I did.

00:09:05
Yeah, well, that's what keeps people silent. It's that stigma.

00:09:08
You just talked about it. It's the stigma that keeps people isolated in

00:09:12
their own heads. And it's only, I

00:09:16
think, in my own experience, when we replace

00:09:20
that feeling of judgment with a little bit of empathy,

00:09:25
that's when we create spaces where people feel safe enough

00:09:30
to come out, safe enough to take off the mask, safe enough to have the

00:09:33
conversation, safe enough to be vulnerable. And that's what so much of

00:09:37
this is. It's. It's like, I definitely do not want to oversimplify this, especially for

00:09:41
somebody who may be listening, who is in that really,

00:09:45
really, really bad, isolated headspace, because I'm

00:09:48
sure that at this stage of the game, you

00:09:52
and I are hopefully reaching a really wide cross

00:09:56
section of people who have either lost people or grieving people or trying to

00:10:00
help people are struggling themselves. So

00:10:04
if you're listening and you're not

00:10:07
okay, two things that you need

00:10:11
to be doing are, number one, reach out to someone,

00:10:15
whether it be 988, whether it be a family member, a friend,

00:10:18
a coworker, someone somewhere that you trust.

00:10:22
And also be vulnerable even when it

00:10:26
hurts, because the alternative is not okay.

00:10:30
The alternative means you're not okay. Yes,

00:10:33
100%. And we

00:10:37
need.

00:10:42
It's hard to say this because I've been there. It's hard

00:10:46
to come up for air when your head won't

00:10:49
stop with other craziness going on.

00:10:55
But know that you're okay. Know that it's okay to let people know what's

00:10:59
going on, because we're not mind readers. Your friends, your family,

00:11:03
your co workers, nobody knows what's really going on unless you

00:11:06
allow them to come in. Allow people to come in.

00:11:11
Because your true friends and your family,

00:11:14
they're going to see you for where you're at and

00:11:18
they'll meet you there for people that are on the other side

00:11:23
and you're seeing the downward spiral.

00:11:27
Just let them know you're there. Let them know that you know you're

00:11:31
there as a friend, you're there as a caregiver, as a

00:11:35
coworker, whoever you are. Just let them Know that you

00:11:38
will. You're there to, you know, help them out in whatever capacity

00:11:42
they might need. And a lot of times I'm going to tell you, we don't

00:11:45
know what we need because it's all kind of new to us.

00:11:49
And that's important. That's important to acknowledge that when you're

00:11:53
not okay, it impacts everything.

00:11:57
It impacts your relationships, it impacts,

00:12:01
in a lot of cases, your job. It impacts, of course, your

00:12:04
mental wellness, your physical wellness. I mean, depression is a

00:12:08
heavy, heavy thing that in and of itself

00:12:12
can keep you from getting out of bed every day, can keep you from

00:12:15
making the connections that you usually make every day.

00:12:20
So it becomes so important, especially

00:12:23
in the world that we're living in now where there is so much turmoil

00:12:27
and there's so much collective stress. All we ever have to do is turn

00:12:31
on the news and everyone is impacted by what we

00:12:34
see and what's happening to us. Whether it's politics or whether it's

00:12:39
a religious crisis somewhere, or whether

00:12:42
it's just navigating the plain

00:12:46
old day to day of life that is heavy

00:12:50
just by nature in so many cases. Like, we all carry a

00:12:53
lot. And when you layer on top of all the other stuff, being

00:12:57
emotionally unwell, well, that just is more than enough

00:13:01
to send somebody into a spiral. And then here's the thing.

00:13:05
When someone is in that headspace alone,

00:13:09
and I'm making the argument now for why it's so important to say what's going

00:13:12
on in your head when someone is alone with all of that

00:13:16
heaviness and those thoughts and, and they're swimming, swimming around

00:13:20
in that, that pool of heaviness,

00:13:24
that's the only thing they're experiencing. There is nothing to disrupt that

00:13:27
cycle. There is nothing to change that narrative.

00:13:31
And it's. When you talk to people, how many times, how many times in your

00:13:34
life, God, how many times you and I have been on the phone, we've been

00:13:38
talking, and you'll tell me something and you've got something in your head, or I'll

00:13:41
tell you something, I have something in my head and I feel like it's

00:13:45
so much bigger or you feel like it's so much bigger until you share it

00:13:49
with me or until I share it with you, and then we're both like, oh,

00:13:53
well, that's not really that big of a deal, is it? You know, it's. And

00:13:57
the point I'm making is that it's when we

00:14:00
verbalize a lot of the things that are going on in our heads that just

00:14:04
keep replaying on these endless little loops. That's when

00:14:07
we recognize like, okay, let's get a little perspective here. Maybe

00:14:11
we have somebody else's input here. Maybe we recognize that thing, things

00:14:15
are fixable or doable or manageable

00:14:19
in a way we didn't when we were locked inside our own head with our

00:14:23
thoughts. And so that's why like this month, today, in this

00:14:26
episode, the rest of this season, into eternity, you and I are

00:14:30
going to be saying, talk about how you feel with

00:14:33
people because that is the first step

00:14:37
in getting help for yourself or someone else.

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00:15:52
It is, and believe me, I know how hard it is.

00:15:56
It took a call to 988 in order for me to open up,

00:16:02
but I'm thankful because I'm alive today and I, I get to

00:16:06
see like a lot of my dreams and hopes coming true. And

00:16:10
offer yourself patience and grace. Okay, like we're all

00:16:14
dealing with something. Like,

00:16:18
just because you're not feeling good in your own

00:16:22
headspace, don't do the negative self talk because it's. Because it really

00:16:25
doesn't help. It just exasperates the what's going

00:16:29
on. And if you're standing

00:16:33
around someone and they are, you know, saying bad stuff

00:16:37
about themselves, like reframe that. So reframe

00:16:40
it back to them, but in a more positive tone.

00:16:44
Yeah, that's a great suggestion and that's, that's powerful.

00:16:48
It's like this is a totally different example, but it's

00:16:51
like how you can almost trick

00:16:55
yourself into going to the gym, for instance. You think,

00:16:59
oh, it's gonna be such a slog. I don't wanna get out of bed, it's

00:17:01
too early, it's too cold, it's too dark, blah, blah, blah. We can

00:17:05
give ourselves a thousand different reasons to not

00:17:09
do the thing, but it's when we spin it and say,

00:17:13
I get to do this. I get to do this for

00:17:16
myself. I get to have this quiet time. I get to fuel my body,

00:17:20
I get to fuel my brain. You know what I'm saying? Does

00:17:24
that, does that make sense? It's just more like positive self talk can

00:17:28
be that X factor

00:17:31
in making something that was not okay in our brains okay.

00:17:35
It is. And the more

00:17:39
you do a positive self talk, the better you

00:17:43
feel. Right. Um, something that my therapist taught me is

00:17:47
every time I get ready to say something mean

00:17:51
to myself, take a second and

00:17:54
reframe that as saying something good. It takes

00:17:58
a lot of brain power to do that. But it also

00:18:02
makes you take a pause. It does. And

00:18:07
really think about what you want to say to yourself.

00:18:10
And instead of using you statements, use I

00:18:13
statements. I did this today.

00:18:17
I'm grateful of this. Don't stand in the mirror and say,

00:18:21
you suck. Okay. Okay. Because you don't suck.

00:18:25
You're going through a really hard time in your life,

00:18:29
probably trying to just make it to that next minute. And I get

00:18:33
it. Life. Life gets really lifey. Sometimes.

00:18:37
It does. And in thinking about what you're saying about how

00:18:41
we talk to ourselves, I'll take it one step further

00:18:44
and say when you're in those moments where

00:18:48
you want to be critical of yourself or you want to bash

00:18:52
yourself for something, stop and think, would

00:18:56
I ever say this to somebody I care about? You

00:18:59
would never say the things to

00:19:03
someone else that you would say to yourself. I'm guilty of that. I am for

00:19:07
sure guilty of that. It's so easy to look at ourselves

00:19:11
and be critical and find fault. And I think with

00:19:14
a lot of us, that's where so many of our insecurities and our issues

00:19:18
start. Because we're not compassionate with ourselves when we need

00:19:22
to be the most. Yeah. Like when

00:19:26
we talk bad to ourselves, it's like sending an angry text.

00:19:30
Because those are the conversations that you would never have face to face with

00:19:34
somebody, but you have no problem sending them a text.

00:19:37
Like, don't. Just don't do it. Be kind. Rewind.

00:19:41
Yeah. Yeah. Like rethink it. Yeah.

00:19:45
And I think a lot of what we're talking about

00:19:50
feels like we're giving suggestions for how to break

00:19:53
cycles here, which I know is what I'm secretly trying

00:19:57
to do. And I think you're probably secretly trying to do that too. Like, okay,

00:20:01
don't do this thing that we're always used to doing, like disrupt,

00:20:05
disrupt the thought process, disrupt

00:20:09
the actions, disrupt the narrative. And,

00:20:12
and the way that we do that is

00:20:17
often in very, very small, innocuous ways.

00:20:22
And like we already said, one of those ways is by being

00:20:25
gentler to ourselves or

00:20:29
maybe prioritizing something that we need

00:20:33
because we need it, versus giving all of our energy and

00:20:36
attention to the people around us. I know I was guilty of

00:20:40
that for the longest time and it had me in a terrible terr

00:20:45
headspace because I kept putting myself dead last. And

00:20:48
I think that that's where so many people

00:20:52
run into problems because all of a sudden now it isn't about you

00:20:56
anymore. You've made it about everybody else but you. So

00:21:00
what's important to you is no longer a priority. What you need

00:21:03
is no longer considered. And people just

00:21:07
get caught in this downward spiral because

00:21:12
we don't think about ourselves anymore in the ways that we should.

00:21:16
You know, we're always so busy asking everybody else, like, how are you?

00:21:20
How are you? And that, what do you need? What's going on with you? And

00:21:23
those are great things. And I am a big believer that we

00:21:28
need to be more of a collectivist society in, in

00:21:31
every way, but in, especially in this way where we

00:21:35
look after each other's wellness. I think it's our

00:21:38
obligation. Definitely it's our obligation. And I know that you agree with that

00:21:42
because we've had offline conversations about that. But

00:21:46
how often do we ask ourselves, how are we really doing and how

00:21:50
impactful would that be if we really did that

00:21:54
on the regular and stopped sitting with everybody else's pain and kind of

00:21:58
sat with our own and said, oh, I am really not okay right now and

00:22:02
here's why, and here's what I need. And then you go do the

00:22:06
thing that you need. Wouldn't that be something? Huh? I think that's easy for people

00:22:09
to do that aren't empaths. But if you're an

00:22:13
empath, you need to learn to put that shield up

00:22:17
and deflect because your well being is

00:22:20
just as important as everybody else's well being.

00:22:25
Check in with yourself on a regular basis. I do it at least

00:22:28
twice a day. I check in in the morning, I check in at night.

00:22:32
I should probably try and check in during the middle of the day, but I'm

00:22:35
usually a little busy and forget about it. But

00:22:39
you're worth having in this world and your

00:22:43
Mental health matters. And you may think, like, I can't

00:22:47
afford to go see a therapist, I don't know what to do. There are numbers

00:22:50
you can call. You can call the 988 suicide and crisis hotline.

00:22:54
You can go and find a support group,

00:22:59
like minded people that are going through something similar to what

00:23:03
you're going through. It helps, but just know that

00:23:07
as a community, we can help lift

00:23:11
people up instead of keep bashing them down so that they

00:23:14
can make it to that next minute, next hour, next day.

00:23:18
But it starts with us and how we talk to ourselves

00:23:22
and how we treat ourselves and how we consider ourselves.

00:23:26
And it's the oxygen mask in the airplane

00:23:30
again, all over again, over and over again. We cannot

00:23:34
be helpful to anyone else if we

00:23:37
are not helpful to ourselves and taking care of

00:23:41
ourselves. So all of this

00:23:45
is to say that

00:23:49
we need to be better and at doing two things.

00:23:54
Number one, considering ourselves and

00:23:58
taking care of ourselves. Those things go hand in hand. And

00:24:02
number two, also keeping our eyes out on the people around us.

00:24:06
It's important. It's what we need to be doing.

00:24:09
Yes, obviously it's Suicide Prevention Month,

00:24:13
so we all are a little bit extra this month, but we

00:24:17
shouldn't be extra this month, we should be extra all the months. So

00:24:22
I do hope that we can just continue this conversation over and over and over

00:24:25
again. And I know that you and I will, and I hope everybody else out

00:24:28
there will. And so here are some takeaways as we

00:24:32
start to wind this conversation down. Take a step.

00:24:37
Take one step. If you're listening to this right now

00:24:41
and you're not okay, or you're listening to this and

00:24:44
you're close to someone who's not okay and you want to help

00:24:48
them, either you yourself or encourage

00:24:52
your friend, reach out to someone you care about

00:24:55
this week. Do it this week.

00:24:59
Either check in with yourself and do that inventory and

00:25:03
see how you're really doing or reach out to the person you're worried

00:25:06
about. How are they really doing? What do they

00:25:10
really need from you? How can you best support yourself

00:25:14
or support a friend who might need help?

00:25:18
Because if we don't ask the questions, we

00:25:21
won't know how to help.

00:25:26
And you know, it's all about, we're all in this

00:25:29
together and I would much rather

00:25:33
have somebody reach out to me. That is not a good headspace.

00:25:38
Then be kind of left wondering. So

00:25:43
yeah, it's true. And look, here are some more takeaways

00:25:49
as we kick off Suicide Prevention

00:25:53
Month. It is again our obligation

00:25:58
to look after the people around us. And

00:26:01
we do that in lots of different ways nowadays. We can do it with a

00:26:05
text, we can do it with a phone call. We can do it by saying,

00:26:07
hey, let's go for a walk, let's get coffee, let's get dinner, let's do a

00:26:10
thing together. But there are so many other ways that the

00:26:14
world we live in allows us to kind of

00:26:18
globally do our part in a very easy way. Post about the

00:26:21
988 crisis lifeline. If you have any

00:26:25
kind of social media whatsoever, just post

00:26:29
the number and say, if you're struggling, call

00:26:32
988. Period. Hit post. That's all you need to do.

00:26:36
Go to resources

00:26:40
like national alliance on Mental Illness or the American foundation for

00:26:43
Suicide Prevention or Samaritans. You can go to my

00:26:47
platform, the Help Hub. Go to thehelphub.co to

00:26:51
find a humongous directory

00:26:54
of crisis support tools and hotlines

00:26:58
and resources and share that.

00:27:02
Share all of those platforms and organizations, because you

00:27:06
never know who will see it at exactly

00:27:09
the right time and need one of the resources that

00:27:13
you're sharing. And last thing, last

00:27:17
kind of call to action. Make it personal. If you're

00:27:20
struggling, take one step. Look what G did.

00:27:24
G was struggling. Ji took one step.

00:27:28
She picked up the phone, called 988. And maybe you need to call

00:27:31
a friend or a family member or a different

00:27:35
helpline or you need to call a therapist for the first time.

00:27:39
Make it personal and take a step for

00:27:43
yourself. I'm telling you,

00:27:47
your life will be much better with that step. I was afraid

00:27:50
when I made that call. My hand was shaking so bad, but at

00:27:54
the same time, I was really tired of feeling the way I was feeling.

00:27:59
Yeah. And when you think about it, I mean, I don't know if I've ever

00:28:02
asked you how long that phone call was, because I know they range

00:28:07
a. Little over an hour and a half. Okay, all right. So

00:28:11
an hour and a half you invested in yourself.

00:28:16
An hour and a half changed the course of the rest of your life.

00:28:19
Not overnight, not in a day or a week, or maybe even a

00:28:23
month. No, more like two years. But still.

00:28:27
But it shifted, right? That was

00:28:31
the moment. That was the thing. So maybe it's a single

00:28:35
conversation with a friend. Maybe it's a single conversation on a lifeline. Maybe it's a

00:28:38
single post that you see some random person on

00:28:42
Instagram or TikTok post that has

00:28:46
information that resonates with you, that

00:28:50
most often can be the catalyst, that can be the thing

00:28:54
that changes things. And so here's

00:28:58
the message and my final thoughts.

00:29:03
Suicide prevention. That's what we're talking about. Suicide prevention is not

00:29:07
just about a single day or a month or a

00:29:11
campaign. It's about all of these choices

00:29:15
that we make every single solitary day to

00:29:18
connect to people who we need

00:29:22
to connect with or who need us to care about other

00:29:26
people, to be compassionate. Because every

00:29:30
single one of us has the responsibility to be part of the solution.

00:29:34
And we can fix it. We can. Baby steps.

00:29:38
Just remember, baby steps. Nothing got changed in a day. Right?

00:29:42
Baby steps and baby steps. Forward motion is still forward

00:29:45
motion. It is indeed.

00:29:49
Indeed it is. I'm really glad we had this conversation. I'm grateful that we

00:29:53
are in a position to be able to talk about these things

00:29:57
in a place where hopefully others will listen and others

00:30:01
will feel what we feel when we talk about it.

00:30:05
So I really hope that the people who need to hear this are hearing it.

00:30:10
And I'll see you next week. I'll see you next week. And I'll love you

00:30:13
just as much next week as I do right now. Yes, ma'. Am. Have a

00:30:16
good one. I will. I'll see you soon.

00:30:20
Thanks for joining us on the Survivors. Remember, no matter how tough things

00:30:24
feel, you are enough and the world needs you just the way you are.

00:30:28
You're not alone in this journey. There's a community here and every step forward

00:30:32
counts. We're so grateful you took the time to listen and we hope you'll

00:30:35
take one day at a time. Just know that there's always more light ahead.

00:30:40
Thanks for being here. Friends, just remember, help is out there.

00:30:44
In so many different places. So if you or someone you know is struggling,

00:30:48
please call 988 and a trained crisis counselor like me will be

00:30:52
there to help. You can also find an inclusive and comprehensive directory of

00:30:55
mental health resources, tools and content at

00:30:58
thehelphub.co. just remember that help is always

00:31:02
just a call or a click away. We'll catch you next week. In the

00:31:05
meantime, keep surviving.