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suicide prevention

Woman's video before her suicide attempt is a reminder to everyone.

Editor's Note: This story discusses suicide. If you are having thoughts about taking your own life or know of anyone who is in need of help, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 200+ crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9-8-8. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

Not all depression looks the same. Sometimes people don't even realize they're depressed for a long time while others go to great lengths to appear okay to the outside world. People who have functional depression—who still go to work, spend time with friends and look to be enjoying life—may not seem depressed to those closest to them.

This kind of masking can be done for many reasons, but a lot of times, it's because they don't want other people to worry about them. But this could mean suicidal thoughts go unnoticed by loved ones. When people appear happy or as if they're handling everything well, others are much less likely to check in on them.

When Brie Johnson uploaded a video with a quote that reads, "You can always tell when someone is going to attempt," the happy videos and pictures that followed contrasted the reality of her attempting suicide.

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Health

Doctors discover and cure woman's mystery mental illness after attempting to jump off Golden Gate Bridge

The doctor who found the cause only worked at the hospital three times a year.

Woman is cured after trying to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Editor's Note: This story discusses suicide. If you are having thoughts about taking your own life or know of anyone who is in need of help, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 200+ crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9-8-8. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.


Mental illness is something many people experience, but we don't always correlate physical ailments with declining mental health. Chronic illnesses that include intense pain or some other uncontrollable condition, like seizures, can cause a person to experience depression. According to the Cleveland Clinic, "Depression is one of the most common complications of chronic illness."

Debbie Menzies, a woman living in the Bay Area of California, knows all too well the struggles of chronic illness and depression. For decades, she had suffered unpredictable frequent seizures and deep depression, which impeded her life. Menzies was diagnosed with epilepsy as a child, but medication didn't seem to help. After a lifetime of suffering, she decided to take her own life by jumping off the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

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Health

Oregon utilizes teen volunteers to run their YouthLine teen crisis hotline

“Each volunteer gets more than 60 hours of training, and master’s level supervisors are constantly on standby in the room.”

Oregon utilizes teen volunteers to man YouthLine teen crisis hotline

Editor's Note: If you are having thoughts about taking your own life, or know of anyone who is in need of help, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 200+ crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9-8-8. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

Mental health is a top-of-mind issue for a lot of people. Thanks to social media and people being more open about their struggles, the stigma surrounding seeking mental health treatment appears to be diminishing. But after the social and emotional interruption of teens due the pandemic, the mental health crises among adolescents seem to have jumped to record numbers.

PBS reports that Oregon is "ranked as the worst state for youth mental illness and access to care." But they're attempting to do something about it with a program that trains teenagers to answer crisis calls from other teens. They aren't alone though, as there's a master's level supervisor at the ready to jump in if the call requires a mental health professional.

The calls coming into the Oregon YouthLine can vary drastically, anywhere from relationship problems to family struggles, all the way to thoughts of self-harm and suicide. Teens manning the phones are provided with 60 hours of training and are taught to recognize when the call needs to be taken over by the adult supervisor.

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Health

100,000 people called 988 during its first week, a historic moment in suicide prevention

“The launch of 988 is a historic moment for suicide prevention and crisis care in this country.”

Photo by yang miao on Unsplash

Help is available 24/7.

It used to be called getting your head shrunk. And it was for the self-obsessed or the folk who were a little bit “off.” The crazy people, right? Not for you, me or any of our co-workers or friends. Hush. Don’t talk about it.Everything’s fine

But as all of us who’ve lived through these last few years know, mental health challenges can happen to any of us. If we’ve learned anything, it’s the realization that some days (weeks, months…) are better than others—and that it’s OK to not be OK.


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