A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND BELIEF

It is often said that people who have lost friends or family members to suicide were touched by their loss.  I want you to understand most of us were not touched but we were blasted with the pain and loss of suicide.  I lost my brother 20 years ago and it still affects how I live and how my family interacts with others. 

After my brothers death I realized that suicide was talked about in hushed voices if anyone talked about it at all.  A suicide survivors support group offered me an opportunity to share my feelings and the thoughts that preoccupied my mind.  It helped me realize that I had done all that I could at the time with what I knew.  What haunted me was what I didn’t know.  So I began to learn.  I attended conferences throughout the United States. I went back to my life of family and work and did the healing that is important after a suicide.  I attended the support group for so long they asked me to be a facilitator. I continued to learn.

Over the last 9 years there has been a survivors (they call people that have lost someone to suicide survivors) movement that includes so many people that are so passionate about making a difference in the world of suicide prevention and we have a dream.  It is a vision that I believe you have also. 

It is to have a world where people can talk openly about their feelings of suicide and we can get them the help that they need.  People will understand that depression, bipolar illness and schizophrenia and substance abuse are illnesses that can be treated, just as we treat cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  The warning signs of suicide will be posted in clinics, businesses and at community facilities just as the signs of heart disease were advertised in the past.  People will seek treatment and get it. People will learn the signs and symptoms of suicide and will learn how to get people help, just as we learned CPR and are now saving lives each day with that simple technique.  People with mental illnesses will be treated with the same respect and compassion as people with cancer receive today.  They will have the latest treatments and they will be covered by health insurance.  Mental Health Information Centers will become important support and information sources for families and persons who are experiencing a mental illness.  Recovery will be understood and planned for.

For the last 2 years we have gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for a National Awareness Event with our friends from SPAN (Suicide Prevention Action Network). We have our 6 quilts from WI joined with quilts from all over the country and we continue to read the names of the people that have died.  We are moving in our mission but it doesn’t seem fast enough when I meet another sibling who has lost their brother or their sister. I know that they will loose part of their life for the next few years as they attempt to put their own life back together.  It is not fast enough when I see a mother and father clinging to one another in grief over the loss of their child.  It is not fast enough when I see a family member return to mourn the loss of another family member to suicide.

So we will continue to educate, advocate and believe that together we can make a difference.  We will continue to recruit others to educate, advocate and believe that together we can make a difference. Why?  Because so many peoples lives depend on it! 

Susan Conlin Opheim, President of HOPES (Helping Others Prevent and Educate about Suicide).  For more information on this WI organization go to www.hopes-wi.org.