Chris Cornell May 18th 2017.
Chester Bennington July 20 2017.
Even as I typed the date I still have not fully processed I will never hear a new Cornell song again and I am so sad. My main take away from my recent Mental Health First Aid certification was TALK ABOUT IT, and don’t be afraid to directly ask someone if they have had thoughts about suicide. This is not going to put the idea in someones head, this is much more likely to create a “safe space”, a non judgmental relationship for talking if not immediately perhaps in the future. I would like to take a moment to talk about our language of suicide. Not to make it politically correct, but to enable us to talk about suicide with more compassionate words to encourage dialogue. To say someone “committed suicide” brings with it such negative/criminal undertones. Can we say “death by suicide”? And how about loosing the terms “successful suicide” or “failed suicide”, I don’t know about you but I usually associate the word success with positive things and suicide is anything but. The phrase “suicide attempt” or “non-fatal suicide attempt” works. Suicide is a symptom of mental ill-health. We have gotta loose the stigma and bring down barriers.
boho memento 