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.
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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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🎙️ See You Next Week! Stay strong, keep going, and remember: You are enough. 💜
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This podcast mentions suicide, mental illness, grief and loss
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and may be triggering for some listeners. So please take care of your well.
00:00:08
Being by pausing or skipping any sections that feel uncomfortable to you.
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And if you or someone you know is struggling, please call 988 for
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support. Hey, girl. Hey.
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Hey, girl. That just
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sounded silly. So. Hmm. So
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it's. It's interesting sometimes when. Well,
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interesting is probably the wrong word. Exciting, good.
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Coincidental. When these special
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days that we have, these kind of marker days,
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remembrance days, awareness days, fall on the day
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that our podcast drops, like, that's just
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good karma, I think. And today
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is World Suicide Prevention Day,
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and it would never be a day that
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we would ever let pass by, ever. And I'm
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just happy, happy, happy, happy that it's
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on the day that we record our podcast. And
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it's a reminder that suicide is not
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just this local issue. And we get to
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remind everybody that it's a global issue.
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Every culture, every country,
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every community is touched by this thing. And
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you think about things that are
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global kinds of things. And
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having come out of a big global
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pandemic only a handful of years ago,
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you realize that there
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are a small number of things that impact
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everybody, and this is one of
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those things. And
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I love the fact that we have this opportunity today to just
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reflect on how far reaching this
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crisis is. Cause it's a crisis. I feel like it's a new
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pandemic, to be honest with you. I think I've even said that before.
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I think it is. And what makes me feel
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the most uneasy is how affected children are.
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Yeah. And vets are. Yeah,
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yeah. It's. Everyone's affected. Yeah. I mean, it
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doesn't matter where you live in the world. It doesn't matter what your religion is.
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It doesn't matter if you're wealthy. It doesn't matter if you're on food stamps. It
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doesn't matter whether you're single or
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married or what you do in the
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world. It doesn't matter because it impacts
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everybody. And I love the fact
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that you and I are here, not just today,
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which is obviously symbolic, but we're here every week
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being part of the solution. Because there. There
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are things that we can all do individually, and there are all things that we
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can do collectively as a country, as a people,
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humanity, to change the
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direction that things are heading in right now, because they are not heading in a
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good direction. People are taking their lives
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in record numbers everywhere because
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suicide is so universal. And it's only
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when we do what you and I do, what so many Others are doing.
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Talk about it. Just. I'm not afraid to talk about it.
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You're not afraid to talk about it. I wish everybody felt the same way, because
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then everybody would be talking about the thing that we should be
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addressing out in the real world, talking about it.
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And there's no shame in saying the word
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suicide. None. You know, like. Like Lisa just said,
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it affects everybody. And it's not just a us thing. It's.
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It's global from coast to coast.
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And the fact that, like you said, that we get to talk about
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this together today,
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it's huge. I mean, it took one phone call for me
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to make sure that I was still here today, but that was
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two years ago. And I found that there's more and more
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resources being made available to people, not just here in the States,
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but globally. You know, people are. Identify, are recognizing that
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this is truly like a pandemic. Pandemic.
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It's sad and scary at the same time. It is. It is.
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And you and I recycle this statistic a lot. We
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did in last week's episode where we kicked off National
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Suicide Prevention Month, we talked about how There are
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over 700 people worldwide who die by
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suicide every year. And that makes it the leading
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cause of death across most age groups.
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Because suicide doesn't discriminate. We just got through saying that. It does not discriminate. It
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affects people of every race, gender,
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color, culture, economic status. It doesn't make a
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difference. And the ripple effect, that's the thing that
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gets me every time. It's this ripple effect. With
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every suicide, every single suicide,
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135 people in that
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person's orbit are directly impacted by that
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loss. So that means over
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94 million people in this world every year,
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every year are navigating suicide,
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grief and loss. And
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it's so isolating. And you say 94 million people. That's
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such a massive population of people. And yet
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so much of that grief and trauma and
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loss is happening in people's heads in
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isolated ways. And
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it doesn't show us the true scale of suicide loss,
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because it's about more than just the people who we've lost that
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way. It's about these vast
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circles of people who are left behind. Like, I'm
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one of those people. And
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I can tell you from experience, I mean, I've lost three people I love to
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suicide, including my dad. It is such an
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incredibly isolating kind of loss.
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It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it. And
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the sad thing is, if you haven't experienced it yet. Wow, you
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are so lucky because unfortunately you will
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ultimately and then you'll understand.
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There's so many pieces of it that just, they just don't
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exist with other kinds of loss. They, they don't.
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And the guilt and the shame that we
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feel as survivors, what it coulda, shoulda, didn't
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like all those things, everything
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plays into this. But at the end of the day,
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it also means that you need to take care of your own mental health.
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That includes opening up, reaching out,
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staying connected. These are all the things that we do for
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our own day to day mental health. But think about
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somebody who may have just lost their, their husband or
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their wife or their girlfriend or a teammate
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to suicide. They are grieving
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in such a unique way that it's really
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hard to pinpoint. And I think that
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having these conversations and really talking openly
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about suicide can help change the
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narrative so that maybe like in five years from
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now, it's not 700 people, maybe it's
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only 500 people. As
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long as the number goes down, that's what we have to focus on.
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This is, it's not a US problem, not an Asia
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problem, it's not a Europe problem, it's an everybody
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problem. It's an everyday
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problem. I didn't have the awareness that I have
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now five years ago, but also
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I didn't have plans to have a mental health breakdown either.
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And now I'm way more aware of
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the world around us and how
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stigmatizing it still is. To say the word suicide,
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like we need to stop. Okay, yeah, but,
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but prevention looks very different depending on where you
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are. I mean, I know that there are a lot of countries
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where they're not
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as vocal about mental health, where there is
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still this expectation or perception
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that people have to be
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okay, have to keep performing, have to keep showing up, have to keep
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working. And there is no time
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to consider poor mental health. So there are still a lot of
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cultures out there in the world that
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I don't want to say ignore, because that's probably the wrong word. But
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don't consider, don't focus on,
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don't deal with mental health in the
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ways that let's say we are in this country, for instance.
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And so it looks very different depending on where you are in the world. Like
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the issues are the same. There is stress everywhere,
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depression, anxiety, people are burnt out, people are
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overworked. I mean, there are so many similarities.
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No matter where you are, what language you speak, but
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the way that people deal with them, it's so different. You know, Some
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countries don't have a hotline. Most do. I will
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say that because on my platform on the Help Hub,
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I have a link to the vast majority
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of country hotlines in the world. And I can tell you
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that there are probably at least
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175 country hotlines on the help
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hub right now. And yet there
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are countries that don't have that kind of
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accessible, you know, dial a few digits and
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get help kind of solution. You know, there's
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school based education here. People are considering mental
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health and wellness more on college campuses and in high schools
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and in elementary schools than they ever have before.
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I certainly don't think that it has risen to a
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level that it should yet, but it's trending in the right direction,
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that's for sure. And communities are getting engaged. I look at
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my own community and I look at the wellness programs that my
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own community is offering
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for its residents and
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it's powerful. It's oftentimes the thing that can
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save someone's life just to know that there's a resource available in
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their own city or their own hometown.
00:11:39
Struggling with your mental health? Feeling lost, overwhelmed,
00:11:43
or just alone? Well, you're not. Welcome to the Help
00:11:47
Hub, your online destination for mental health resources,
00:11:50
content and tools to help you navigate whatever mental health
00:11:54
challenges you are facing in the moment. At the Help Hub, we
00:11:57
offer individualized resources tailored to your unique needs and
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community, with over 16 different categories to find
00:12:04
exactly the kind of personalized help you need when you need it most.
00:12:09
Because even though we all deal with many of the same challenges, we don't
00:12:13
always experience those challenges the same way. So whether you're looking
00:12:16
for crisis support, downloadable resources, or an
00:12:20
extensive archive of mental health related articles and videos, we've got
00:12:24
you. From episodes of the Survivors Podcast for Suicide Loss,
00:12:28
Survivors Lived Experience, blogs, to interactive
00:12:31
tools and professional connections, the Help Hub meets you where you
00:12:35
are and helps you move forward with strength and support.
00:12:39
Remember, you don't have to do this alone. Visit
00:12:42
thehelphub.co today.
00:12:48
I can tell you here in the state of New York,
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in like the last five or six
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months, I've seen a lot of commercials for the 988
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crisis line, which warms my heart because
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for years we didn't talk about it and
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now they're starting to talk about it. And
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even here in rural upstate New York,
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those resources are still needed. But you're right, in
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lots of other places in the world, they don't have a
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dedicated line. People are dependent
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on on their community or their friends or
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even a Bystander to help them kind of
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figure out what's going on in their head. Yeah,
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I think so much of it
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revolves around this common thread of
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compassion and commitment that we have to each other
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to look after each other and keep each other well.
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And that's not something that everybody wants to
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do. The fact of the matter is that
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people can get selfish and self centered and
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people in a lot of cases have
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a lot of difficulty just navigating their own day to day. They don't have
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the bandwidth or the capacity to, to help anybody else
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to navigate theirs. So becomes
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an issue of self preservation, I think, in a lot of ways.
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And not enough people being willing to be the bystander,
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to be the one to help the person who's in crisis, who they maybe
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don't know or don't have a connection to. But again, I mentioned this over
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and over again when you and I have this kind of conversation that I do
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believe very strongly that it's our collective responsibility to
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look after each other and
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to do the things that are in our capacity to do, like
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holding space or checking in or just
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heightening our awareness about what's going on around us. Like we don't live in a
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vacuum. We don't live on our own little planets alone. We're here with,
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you know, hundreds of millions of people and at some
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point we're going to have to start considering each other on a different, deeper level.
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And I don't really think there's a better time to do that than on World
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Suicide Prevention Day when mental illness
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is taking so many people away
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from us. And my challenge to the
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listeners is to actually post something on social
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media about World Suicide Awareness Day. Because
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somebody may see that message and be like, hey, I know
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somebody that could use some help. Somebody's going to
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see that message and you will touch them in a way that they, that you
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didn't think that you would. But it's so important to
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get that information out there. Absolutely. And
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something else that I feel strongly that we all should do and I
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do it myself. So this is not just me saying, hey, go do this thing
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that I don't do. I do this on the, you know, on a regular
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basis. You know, stories
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connect people. Stories
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allow us to see ourselves in someone
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else in ways that maybe we didn't
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before, we couldn't before. So if you have
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a story or you've had a struggle, and I feel like
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we all have, and we all do go through these things in
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one way or another, talk about it, talk
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about it openly. What better time
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than now and reason than
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something like World Suicide Prevention Day to share
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an experience that you may have had that changed things for
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you for the better. Like, oh, I started seeing a therapist. I was really depressed.
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I started seeing a therapist and now things have changed
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for me. For the better. Or I held space for someone
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who was so desperate they didn't want to be here anymore, and
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now they're here and they got help because I took the time and I held
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space. Like, that encourages somebody else to hold the space. That encourages somebody
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else to make the phone call, to call 988 or call a therapist or
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to be vulnerable. So
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when we can share our own
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experiences with struggle, whatever that
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struggle is, it reminds people that
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they're not alone. And I feel like that's one of the very biggest
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things that we can do because we keep all of these heavy,
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hard, toxic thoughts just locked away in our heads
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and they're in our bodies and it
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permeates everything and it overtakes
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us. And I want
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people to think about the old fashioned radiators
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that were around back in the day. Like
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when I was little, you had to twist the
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little knob on the bottom of the radiator to
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bleed the radiator so the steam came out. Did you have those?
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Yes. Okay, I want you to. Let's play a game. I want you to answer
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this question. When you do
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not bleed a radiator, what happens? It
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blows up. Right. What happens
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when you bleed the radiator and turn the little
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dial to let what's inside out? Maybe slowly,
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maybe cautiously. But what happens?
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It starts to slowly dissipate. I love that
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you use the word dissipate. I was really hoping. I think I just channeled that
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word to you. That was like some good mind connection.
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So that's the whole point. That's what I'm talking about here. That's what we should
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all be doing. Yes, this is World Suicide Prevention
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Day, and yes, this is National Suicide Prevention Month.
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But these are the things that we should be thinking about and acting on
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all the months of the year, all the days of the year,
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because mental illness does not take a holiday.
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Mental illness does not just pop up on, you know,
00:19:22
the third Friday of every other month. This stuff
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is with us all the time. So we need to be actively engaged
00:19:29
in these conversations. And yes, these awareness days are
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great because they elevate these conversations to the top,
00:19:39
but then they slip back down when that
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month or that week or that day is over. And they can't. We
00:19:46
can't afford to let that happen. We have to
00:19:50
be actively talking about these things and actively working
00:19:54
toward changing these narratives and these
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behaviors that we all have to just keep everything inside. We have to
00:20:01
bleed the radiator all the time. You have to.
00:20:04
And for those of us that, like, are
00:20:08
holding all that in. Stop.
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Please open up to somebody, anybody.
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There's. There's a willing soul out there
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ready to listen to you.
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And try to expand
00:20:28
your perspective the way. And I don't mean you like yours,
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I mean you in general. Try to expand your
00:20:35
perspective. Try an exercise. I'm going
00:20:39
to do this actually when we're done recording. I'm going to do this because I
00:20:42
just had this idea. I'm going to go do it.
00:20:46
Go research what other people in other
00:20:50
countries do to
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support their mental wellness and share it.
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I'm going to do that. Share
00:21:02
shows that suicide is truly a shared
00:21:06
global issue and that we can be learning
00:21:10
things from each other
00:21:13
in such dramatic ways if we started
00:21:17
paying attention to the things that each other is doing right.
00:21:23
And so I. I'm going to. To
00:21:26
get off of this recording and I am going to Google
00:21:30
what other countries do and
00:21:34
maybe it's something they do in the Netherlands. They have. What is it? Hugi. Is
00:21:38
that. What am I mutilating? What it is the word. I think you're
00:21:41
mutilating the word. I might be mutilating it. It's like
00:21:46
this concept of calm. It's this philosophy around, like calm
00:21:50
and serenity and peacefulness in your home. I think I absolutely
00:21:53
mutilated the word. But
00:21:57
there are cultures that. That are
00:22:02
doing things right. And this is not to say that we aren't here. We're.
00:22:06
You and I are here in the United States and there's a lot we do
00:22:08
right here and there's a lot we do wrong for sure.
00:22:12
So I think that when we're having a
00:22:15
conversation about World Suicide Prevention Day,
00:22:19
let's look at the people around the world who are doing the
00:22:23
good things to prevent the thing that we're trying to prevent. So. So
00:22:27
I'm going to do that and I'm going to report back and,
00:22:31
and also too, in terms of doing things like actively
00:22:35
doing things. Volunteer.
00:22:38
Volunteer in your community, your city, your town.
00:22:43
Be an advocate. And that might mean something as simple as
00:22:46
posting the 988 crisis and suicide Lifeline on your
00:22:50
social media. Mike G. Suggested or donate.
00:22:54
Go to the American foundation for Suicide Prevention. Go to the Trevor Project,
00:22:59
Go donate and do what
00:23:03
you can to help the bigger picture
00:23:06
that's what we should be doing when we talk about doing
00:23:10
things on a global scale.
00:23:15
One other thing I wanted to throw out there, it isn't just
00:23:18
necessarily about doing something for the benefit of other people.
00:23:22
Yes, obviously that's a big part of it, too. But
00:23:26
I think it's important that we stop for a second and we reflect a little
00:23:30
bit on what today is and what it really signifies. Like, it's really
00:23:34
heavy, you know, we're talking about an issue that is
00:23:37
a terribly hard issue
00:23:41
to navigate that exists around the world.
00:23:45
Maybe just spend a few minutes
00:23:49
journaling about it. What do you think about suicide? Have you ever asked yourself that
00:23:53
question? How do you feel about it? Do you want to secretly, on a piece
00:23:56
of paper in your own private little journal, say, wow, that's a super selfish thing
00:23:59
to do. Say it if that's how you feel, or
00:24:03
light a candle or spend a few
00:24:07
minutes silently contemplating what
00:24:11
it all means if you've been affected, how it's made you feel, what
00:24:15
you're afraid of, and then try and do something
00:24:20
to change it. I love this
00:24:24
conversation, and I think it's just so poignant at this point in
00:24:28
time that we can change the
00:24:31
narrative one conversation at a time,
00:24:35
just like what you and I are doing right now. Yeah.
00:24:41
Here's the thing. When we take action
00:24:45
either within ourselves or even just
00:24:49
on local levels, even though we're doing
00:24:52
these things locally in our little area of the world,
00:24:56
we're still part of something bigger. We're part of
00:25:00
this global movement. And that's the thing
00:25:04
about an issue like suicide. In particular,
00:25:07
suicide prevention. It's not limited to
00:25:11
borders. It's a shared human responsibility.
00:25:14
So I don't know about you, but I am taking
00:25:18
responsibility today and all the other days, and I
00:25:22
hope that everybody else who's listening
00:25:25
will do the same. Same here. And
00:25:29
just remember, be kind. Yeah, ain't
00:25:33
that the truth. I can't wait to do this again with you next week.
00:25:37
But I've really, really appreciated this
00:25:40
conversation and I love you a lot. I love you, too. I'll see you next
00:25:43
week. Boo. Thanks for joining us
00:25:47
on the Survivors. Remember, no matter how tough things feel, you are
00:25:51
enough. And the world needs you just the way you are. You're not alone in
00:25:55
this journey. There's a community here, and every step forward counts.
00:25:58
We're so grateful you took the time to listen, and we hope you'll take one
00:26:02
day at a time. Just know there's always more light ahead.
00:26:06
Thanks for being here, friends. Just remember, help is out there
00:26:10
in. So many different places. So if you or someone you know is struggling,
00:26:14
please call 988 and a trained crisis counselor like me will be
00:26:18
there to help. You can also find an inclusive and comprehensive directory of
00:26:22
mental health resources, tools and
00:26:23
content@thehelphub.co. just remember that help
00:26:27
is always just a call or a click away. We'll catch you next week.
00:26:31
In the meantime, keep surviving.