During September, National Suicide Prevention Month, it is important to talk about how to prevent people struggling with suicidal thoughts from committing the act.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) is located in the Grand Valley, which had the highest suicide rate in the nation in 2018, according to an NPR article. An anonymous CMU student shared their story to help raise awareness:
“I was about 15 when I was diagnosed with chronic depression and anxiety, and I was put into a few different medications.
“My parents did not think that mental illness was real, they believed it was fake. So I paid for my own medicine and decided to forgo any therapy.
“My grades dropped, I lost interest in sports and I lost my girlfriend of two years. At that point, I was so done with life that I decided to take things into my own hands.
“While my parents were out, I stole my dad’s handgun. I locked myself in the bathroom and held the gun in my mouth for around 10 minutes before I decided I wanted to check my phone and make sure everyone got a goodbye before I left.
“When I opened my messages, there was one from my sister about how much she loved me and how she saw I was struggling, and she had asked me to get ice cream with her.
“I cried for hours, but finally decided to talk to her before I did this. I put the gun back, and she picked me up. I did not attempt to end my life again after that.
“Suicide is not the answer, I thought that no one cared anymore but I was wrong. It only took one person being there to save my life.”
There are so many stories of people who chose to keep living and they are so important to share with those who are struggling.
Stories of communities coming together after a tragic death are also a very important thing to share. In Montrose, about an hour away from Grand Junction, a national organization called PEER (Positive, Encouraging, Empathetic, Respectful) Kindness was created after the loss of a student.
PEER Kindness has even gone to Washington DC to propose legislation against bullying. Here’s their story:
On March 24, 2015, a teenage girl took her own life. Caitlyn Haynes was bullied throughout her middle school and high school years. Haynes was taunted by gum being plastered onto her locker, rumors spreading and she was intentionally hit in the face at a powderpuff game.
People described her as kind, selfless and loving. Sadly, peer cruelty, or bullying, is a common experience for 20 percent of teenagers today, according to stopbullying.gov.
Todd and Maya Haynes, Caitlyn’s parents, set up an account after the community sent in money to support them.
That’s where the organization #BeforeYouHateThinkOfCait was born. It was organized by Todd and Maya Haynes, Ashley Pietak (Haynes’ sister) and concerned citizens. The name was changed in Jan. 2017 to PEER Kindness and is based on the traits of Haynes: positive, encouraging, empathetic and respectful.
PEER Kindness’ executive director, Robyn Shank, and board members have worked in partnership with the Montrose and Olathe school district to reduce bullying.
Shank stated this organization is “only going to get bigger and better. PEER Kindness applied for, and was awarded, funds by the 3M Company to help support anti-bullying efforts at the secondary level.”
With all the help from the community, especially the students, Peer Kindness will grow and reach more students, hopefully around the nation. The goal is to shift our culture, to make sure kids at school don’t want to hurt each other.
Students have recently been more stressed than ever, school has been getting more intense as years go by and people get crueler. Due to the notion of “survival of the fittest” that has been engraved in our society, the “weaker” people have been worse off. Suicide rates are going up every year and anxiety and depression have been active.
In 1895, only 18 percent of students reported feeling overwhelmed with anxiety compared to the 62 percent of students today, according to an article by Benoit Denizet-Lewis in the New York Times. The average student today has the same anxiety levels as a 1950s psychiatric patient.
Society has taken a fall in how we treat each other, respect has disappeared and love and relationships, whether romantic or friendly, are considered short term things.
PEER Kindness is one of the few organized movements against bullying in our country that will continue to bring great strides of improvement and awareness to suicide prevention.
There are multiple ways people can reach out to PEER Kindness: contact the board members directly by calling (970) 901-7744, visit their website at www.peerkindness.netor check out the PEER Kindness, Inc. Facebook page.
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