[Samanthagreene]

*I don't think this is triggering, but it could be*

This is a little bit late, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to spread awareness of suicide prevention day at school. I considered buttons, stickers, baking food, but none of them felt right. I want to inform people without letting them jump to conclusions about my own state of mind. Any suggestions are welcome, even if it's after tomorrow. I've been thinking about different ways to raise awareness about mental health issues.
-Sam

[Nicks_Nose]

I would suggest teaching people what depression is not. It is not self pity! It is NOT attention seeking! It is NOT simply sadness for the moment! When suicide happens, it can be triggered by many people (influence of the mass crowd), it can be done out of value of another's life over one's own, (heroism), lack of value in one's self, or no other options available to get out of or recover from a painful situation such as grief, stress, etc. Common to many of these situations is that the person sees no other options before them...no solution to their pain. The public need to be educated on understanding this and not stigmatizing it. The topic is not permitted to be talked about, often leaving people suffering these thoughts feeling there is no one to turn to. When all they need is an ear to listen. TEACH TEACH TEACH the public not to fear it and stigmatize it. The fear of it is what keeps many people suffering in silence until it is too late.

[rapid cyclist]

I changed my Facebook avatar for the day and posted throughout the day a few things from this resource site: Mental Health Stigma - Let's end it!

Nothing preachy, just thought provoking, I hope.

Maybe not great for school, but that's how I observed it.