A Special Experience

Story time:

I joined forces with 3 other strangers to rescue another stranger from suicide last night.

One of our group found that one of his Twitter followers had posted a suicide note and he started asking for help in locating him. We had literally nothing more to go on than an obscure twitter handle, a bird, a Walmart prescription bottle (no info visible), a face pic, and a possible state name.

Other than those 5 small details this guy was almost completely invisible online. Our group spent 6 hours combing through his tweets, forum posts and any other website on the internet showing his obscure username. Finally, we narrowed down part of his real name, his city, and a business he worked with - which also helped us narrow down the pharmacy he used for the prescription - and were able to contact his local police to do a wellness check.

The police were a bit suspicious of our call at first, they kept asking how we knew the guy at risk, and how we "knew" we were calling the right city. They definitely didn't know what to think of the fact that we were all strangers to each other, even to the guy we were trying to find, and that we were scattered all over the country.

We provided the police with the little information we had pulled together (it was awesome that they took our call seriously) and they actually managed to locate him and take him to the hospital!

The police were lucky enough to get there before he managed to follow through with his attempt.

As you can imagine, this was definitely an incredible experience for us!

There's more to say, and maybe soon I'll be able to take some to explain a little more.

Leading Them Away From Suicide

*NOTE: I am not a Psychologist or a Counselor, instead I've survived my own war with Suicide for over 15 years.

Suicide is a Tragedy that is happening all over the world every day. Suicide is a child of fear, hate, despair and most importantly, the loss of feeling loved.

Suicide is an epidemic affecting all walks of life, from the very poor to the very rich. It affects all races, religions, nationalities; it literally crosses all boundaries and knows no discrimination. Suicide, no matter who is affected is heartbreaking. No matter who you are, if you struggle with wanting or needing to commit suicide, you are not alone, there are many people all over the world who can find you and help save you if only they could see your personal SIGNAL FIRE. We WILL search for the human being behind every S.O.S. If you live in the United States, the National Suicide Hotline is a good potential resource for anyone who needs help (1-800-273-8255).

Even though Suicide reaches everyone, not all groups are affected in quite the same way. Sometimes the causes are different, sometimes the behavior leading up to suicide might be different, sometimes the community response is different, sometimes even the number of people affected can be different within a community. That is why I and so many others concentrate so hard on Suicides affecting youth, children and young adults who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender. We do not diminish the tragedy of any other person who feels so alone and desperate that suicide feels necessary or desirable, we reach out to them as much as we can too. All are welcome at the doors of the LGBT community.

If you are feeling like suicide is an option, how do you light your SIGNAL FIRE and ask for help?