This episode I am going to do something unpopular. I am going to discuss teen suicide. I am doing this for a variety of reasons. First I feel this is a very important issue, and I have personal experiences that are relevant. In doing this episode I am hoping to not only help any of you who may be listening to help open up these discussions more, but I am also helping myself. Many of things I am going to be talking about I have very rarely discussed openly with anyone, and I have certainly never talked about any of it publicly.

Before I get started I want to make the following warnings. First if you are a teenager or young adult, I am glad you are listening, but please do not do so alone. Have a close friend or parents with you while you listen. If you are going to be watching the Netflix series “13 Reasons why” The same advice applies. These are difficult topics and no matter how old you are I personally encourage you to not engage in them alone. If you find yourself going through some bad times, or feel lost or depressed or alone do not be, find someone, anyone you trust and discuss your feelings before during or after listening to this episode or watching the Netflix show I am discussing. If you have experienced a loss due to suicide or have these thoughts yourself please do not listen alone, and please contact National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you need help. 1-800-273-8255

This is a serious topic and do not delay if you think someone you know may be hurting. Learn how to be a friend

In this disclaimer portion of the show I want to clearly make the point that I do not wish to sound like I am hijacking these issues to promote atheism, or to promote my show. I have been personally impacted by suicide not only as having a family member kill themselves in front of me as a young child, but also having going through my own period of depression and struggling with suicide. My personal thoughts while going through this did have religious tones to it, and did involve the ideas of turning to drug use as an alternative method of suicide to allow my entry into heaven. My situation and my experiences are not typical. The only reason I mention this is to highlight the need for secular therapy and to leave personal religious ideology out of these discussions. This is a medical issue, this is a societal issue, this is an educational issue, and finally and most importantly this is humanist issue.

In this episode I am not going to only talk about my personal struggles I am going to go over information and news regarding suicide. As far as I am including my own personal stories into this, I went back and forth on this for a long time trying to decide if it was the right move. In coming to this decision, I decided to leave it in.

In particular I am going to be discussing the issues of suicide in Tennessee specifically. I know that Tennessee is not the only place that faces the problems of suicide, and I apologize up front if my focus on Tennessee in this episode in any way minimizes the effects of this topic in other places. Part of my goal on this podcast is to give the secular community in east Tennessee a voice, and in that pursuit many of the stories and information I share will be from here. I want to however highlight that no matter where you live this is a big issue and hopefully those not from here can take what we talk about and add it to their tool kit in discussions.

In Tennessee this has become a particularly contentious and difficult subject to approach. I have been personally effected by suicide and have that perspective. I have also done a lot of research into this topic, and with the recent controversy surrounding the new Netflix series ‘13 Reasons Why’ I feel a need to discuss this issue.

According to the Tennessee Suicide prevention network’s statistics suicide was the number 2 leading cause of death for the 10-14 age grou...