Suicide statistics

This is September, the month our older son Paul died by suicide after his seven year battle with bipolar disorder. On September 23 it will be thirteen years. And the pain of his loss is still here.

Most Septembers or Decembers (his birth month) I like to post about resources that help erase the stigma of mental illness and/or provide help in preventing suicide. Today I’m doing my volunteer job at the Facebook group site: Putting a Face on Suicide – mainly a memorial site for those of us left behind after the suicide of a loved one. As soon as I logged in, I found the words and photo shown below. If the magnitude of this data doesn’t remind us how important suicide prevention is, nothing will.

In the next 985 minutes 1478 people will take their own lives. In the blink of an eye 8868 family and friends will survive them and be profoundly affected. Those are some of the statistics; and these are their faces …

Click this link to download a high resolution 11 x 17 inch PDF copy http://www.mediafire.com/?w736xrw8bbstqxq