Suicide Prevention

  • World Suicide Prevention Day 2025 and things that don’t exist

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    It’s heartbreaking to me. It’s overwhelming to consider what’s missing because we haven’t figured out a way to help those who need it the most. The loss is incalculable. I have no words to describe it. I can personalize it because I was someone at risk. I know what would be missing if I had lost that battle. I’d be missing from everything that has happened in the 30 years since. I don’t like to think about that. I can’t imagine a world where I never met my wife or many of the incredibly special people I’ve come to know over the years. I’m fortunate that it isn’t the real world, but I’m also aware of how easily it could have been. I was able to get help. I found support when needed. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to keep me connected to life and other people.

    Please, learn about suicide prevention. Ensure that you and everyone you care about are aware of the 988 number and other local resources available to you. Learn about how you can “Change the Narrative” this year at the WSPD link above.

  • World Suicide Prevention Day is Also Hurricane Prep Day This Year for Me

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We did all of those things in the 24-72 hours before the storm. The storm should make landfall sometime tomorrow. We’ve got our water stock, will get some ice, and have everything on chargers, batteries, and flashlights ready. Our cars are full of gas, cash on hand, and ice is getting picked up now. 

    If/when the power goes out tomorrow, we’ve got the necessities and a pretty good idea of where we will head on Thursday if it appears we’ll be without power for a few days. 

    Similarly, we don’t wait until someone is in a mental health crisis to figure out how to keep them alive. Plan. Know who to call, where to go, and what activities help you in crisis. Let the people in your life know the plan so they know what to do. 

  • Music for your mental health – Where the Road Goes

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The words reminded me so much of a time in my life when I could have died and thought none of this was worth it. It also reminded me of why I didn’t – my curiosity. My desire to see what happens and “where the road goes” may have been the only thing that kept me alive back then. I didn’t have much hope to hold on to, but I knew enough to know that I didn’t have all the answers and couldn’t tell the future. Why not see what happens tomorrow and the next day? 

    Eventually, I found some lovely things mentioned in the song—people, places, and thingsI love. 

  • World Suicide Prevention Day 2021

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    So, the thing I want us to talk about this year is not just encouragement to call a hotline or to reach out to a friend for help, or even to tell our stories and erase the stigma around mental health issues. I want us to consider doing more than that. I want us, as a society, to figure out how to provide hope. As much value as there is in all of those other things if I can’t provide some hope that things will get better, that we are working and advocating for things to get better across all areas of our culture, then I can’t honestly say that there is a reason for someone to hope, and at the end of the day, the thing that truly prevented me from taking my own life when I was at my worst, was the hope that life wouldn’t always be that painful.

    As it turned out, my life wasn’t always that painful, and even in times of pain, I can look back and remember that.

    How do we provide that hope for others who have been beaten down and worn out with life right now? Where does their hope come from?