‘People are not alone’: Mother, daughter talk importance of suicide prevention
JACKSON, Tenn. — “Most people don’t want to talk about it because it’s uncomfortable,” said Tosha Gurley, West Tennessee coordinator for Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network.
As of 2016, suicide is the second-leading cause of death in people ages 10-19 in Tennessee. Also, 2016 had the highest number of reported suicides at more than 1,100.
“The rates are increasing, but we also think it could be because people are becoming more aware of what it looks like, and our teens are definitely connected to media. There’s not a cutoff,” Gurley said.
WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News sat down with one West Tennessee teen who shared her struggle with wanting to kill herself. She said she has experienced suicidal thoughts and also has acted on them.
She says other students started making fun of her in fourth grade after her grandmother died. Her behavior changed after that, and her fellow students started picking on her. She’s now in eighth grade, and it hasn’t stopped.
“It just kept getting worse and worse because people were just people — judgmental and rude,” the teen said.
She says this year has been the worst yet.
“I had a few notes put in my locker that were telling me to go kill myself, various ways from overdosing to mutilation,” she said.
The student also likes to draw, and what she was drawing became a warning sign for her mother. She noticed her daughter’s drawings were taking a dark turn.
“She wasn’t the child that I knew,” the teen’s mother said. “She just changed her whole personality. She’s very negative, very bitter.”
She says her daughter started dressing differently, wearing long sleeves and pants no matter how hot it was outside.
“She pulled her sleeves up one night and she had cuts up her arms,” the mother said.
TSPN officials say a change in your child’s personality is a sign to look out for.
However, there is no comprehensive list you can check off to see if your child is having suicidal thoughts.
“I think we just have to be aware of who our children are and if they have a list of those warning signs, and definitely don’t be afraid to ask the question ‘are you thinking about killing yourself?'” Gurley said.
Also during this school year, the student says she has found ways to deal with her feelings.
“I had to have my own coping methods like drawing and writing, just so I could let out my emotions without being terrified of someone making fun of me for them,” she said. 
She says she’s also found friends that talk with her about how she’s feeling. Her drawings now have a more positive look to them.
All three of these women tell me the reason suicide has such a negative stigma — people just don’t want to talk about it.
“Listen to them and let them know that you’ll be there to support them through that process, whatever that process may be,” Gurley said.
TSPN is working to change the stigma of suicide throughout the state with different events and having survivors speak about their experiences.
This West Tennessee student and mother want you to know that sometimes all you need to do is listen.
“People are not alone, families are not alone, these kids are not alone,” the mom said. “We just have to find the resources to get them all together and hopefully lower that number.”
Visit the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network website for more information and how you can help stop the stigma of suicide.
