Share your story
Stories matter, and there’s strength in sharing. It can be helpful to process pain and healing through storytelling and relate to others’ experiences. If you’ve overcome suicidal thoughts or an attempt, helped prevent suicide, or navigated the loss of a loved one, your story can inspire and uplift others. Together, we can bring light to those in the dark.
If you choose to share your experience relating to suicide, especially in a public context, it’s important to preface with some warning of the subject matter and that if someone is struggling, they should call, text, or chat 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Framework for Successful Messaging is a useful guide that informs on avoiding potentially harmful messaging about suicide.
Though the themes of your story are completely up to you, if you need any prompts, here are some questions your story could answer:
If you’ve lost someone:
- What is your loved one’s name? What are your loved one’s birth and death dates?
- Who was your loved one? What is their story? What do they mean to you? What do you want others to know about them?
- What would you say to someone else who is grieving a loved one to suicide?
- How did losing your loved one to suicide impact your family and your life?
General:
- What was next for your family/community after your loss or experience? What challenges and sources of strength did you encounter?
- What do you wish colleagues, friends, family, and others understood about an experience like this?
- What were your needs/your community’s needs following your experience?
- Did you encounter stigma (internal or external) in this experience relating to suicide?
- What would you say to someone else who experienced something similar?
- What would you say to someone afraid of losing a loved one to suicide?
- How have things changed since your experience? How have you or your community grown or struggled after your experience?
- What steps would you like to see taken to better protect people and prevent suicides?
- How can communities, public officials, local governments, and individuals come together to prevent suicide?
- How can others in the community support loss survivors and those struggling with suicidal ideation?
- What would you like people to do after hearing your story? How can they get involved in raising awareness or supporting suicide prevention efforts?
- Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience?