MEDICINE HAT, AB — In Canada there’s one suicide every 131 minutes and it’s the ninth leading cause of death.
September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day.
It had Medicine Hat residents lining up at Monster’s Ink Tattoo to get a tattoo of a semicolon.
To people struggling with mental health, a semi colon is more than just punctuation. It means something special when it comes to suicide prevention.
“So, when you’re struggling with mental health, and you’re struggling whether to go on, you take a pause, and that’s what that semicolon represents. As opposed to putting a period at the end of your sentence, you’re taking a pause moment, and you’re choosing to continue to go on,” said Erin Reeder, a suicide prevention coordinator with the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Almost 4,000 Canadians die of suicide every year.
“People who are having thoughts of suicide need to reach out for help and ask for that help. If you have friends or family in your life that you’re concerned about, learn what those warning signs are and how you get them connected to help,” said Reeder
After struggling with suicidal thoughts, Madelyne Campbell decided to reach out for help.
“It made me realize that I’m more than my mental illness, and that I can get through, said Campbell. “I just needed to realize that there is help, and as much as I never want to go back there again, I feel like if I ever got to that low point I would.”
At first, Campbell thought that she was all alone but now knows that thousands of other Canadians also suffer suicidal thoughts.
“So many people deal with this and so many people don’t want to talk about it. That’s when you get into your own head, and that’s when you feel like the only way out is to kill yourself, and that’s never the case. There’s always at least one person there who cares even like it feels like there’s nobody.”
Suicide can be a taboo topic that not many people want to acknowledge but Campbell wants people to know that they shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it.
“I just want people to know that there’s always someone there, there’s always supports around, and that it’s okay to not be okay,” said Campbell.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can call the Crisis Services Hotline at 1-833-456-4566.
