Help & Hope for the Suicidal (and those who love them)

On May 13, 2013, my precious son, Jordan, lost his battle with debilitating depression and hung himself. He was 19.

Are you suicidal? Are you battling suicidal ideation? Have you lost a loved one to suicide? Do you know someone who is considering taking their own life? Do you know someone who has made comments about no longer wanting to live?

If so, this is for you.

While attending a workshop on Suicide Awareness & Intervention, I learned:

99% of those who attempt to take their life don’t want to die – they just want the pain to stop.

Below you will hear an excerpt from a clip by a precious young man who’d lost hope. He made a plan. His plan was to die by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. (I’ve included one minute of his story. You can view his story in its entirety here.) Don’t miss what he says at the end of the clip.

“No one’s gonna know that I didn’t want to die.”

I am neither a professional counselor nor a mental health professional. I am a husband, dad of three, and a pastor. My almost 40 years in vocational ministry, most of which was in Student Ministry, has given me the opportunity to work with hundreds of students and their parents as they went through seasons of crippling pain due to all levels of tragedy and darkness.

If you are suffering from suicidal ideation and/or feelings causing you to feel the world would be better off without you, I want you to know this:

There is help and hope in abundance.

You are of infinite worth and value. You are loved. You matter. Your family and friends would be devastated at your loss. And, again, there is hope. Lots of it.