Trips to Healing

As we communicate and discuss how to make individuals aware of signs that an individual may be contemplating taking one's own life, but the truth is we don't often see signs because there are not visible signs always. This was my experience when I lost my brother. There were no signs.

The night before he was rushed to the hospital I had just made it to Savannah, GA, which was our family first vacation stop. We were then going to leave Savannah and head to Mississippi and pick him up and then head to our family homes in Alabama. That night we were on a group call until late in the evening everyone including him telling jokes and planning out how we would spend our days once we connected. We thought he had fell asleep on the call because it was late in the night, but that was not the reason for his silence.

For months and months that call played out in my head and I thought why did I not see the signs? At some point; there came a revelation for me that there were no signs that he displayed. However, there were traumas and issues he needed to address from his childhood and his lack of treatment from years of returning in and out of the incarceration system, and these issues could have played a major role in his decision to take his own life, but my question remains was there a way for us to help him if there were no signs exhibited?

This September, as we discuss suicide awareness and prevention we ask you to make great efforts to let your love ones know you love them and how life would be without them because they are so needed in your everyday movements. I truly believe that if individuals know how much they are truly needed they might think long and hard before placing such trauma on their loved ones.. However, if you see signs that an individual you know or a loved one might be contemplating suicide, please seek out immediate help, or call 988 the suicide hotline number and connect with a professional. However, if you have lost a loved one to suicide, and you want to talk about your experiences with someone who can relate go to www.taketripsmes.org and drop a contact number and let's talk. 

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