Parents Talk
Parents Talk: Mourning A Man Who Chose Suicide
The death of a friend's son has me asking what I can do for suicide awareness and prevention.
The son of one of my friends killed himself last week. My friend found him. When I heard that on Monday, I had a rush of emotions: disbelief, despair and anger. Five days earlier, I read a story about a woman whose son, Dustin, committed suicide in fall 2011. The story was by Mike Schoemer, St. Michael Patch local editor. At the time I read the St. Michael story, I felt a tremendous amount of empathy for Dustin's mother, Gretchen Harrington. But it wasn't until I heard about the death of my friend's son that I felt some of the anguish of a suicide survivor. I cried for my friend, who came home from work to find her son dead. I wanted to hug her and sob with her for as long as she needed me; long-distance prayers and Facebook posts seem so …
In this Article:
Evelyn Headen
10:54 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
A friend of ours just shared that her 14-yer-old son has been severely depressed and suicidal. While he is getting the help he needs from family and professionals, he doesn't want any of his friends (or their parents) to know. If he had broken his leg, his friends would be signing his cast and sending him get-well cards. We have to keep talking, and include young people in our conversations, to … more ›