Understand Suicide

By Paula FontenelleHealth & Fitness Mental Health

Understand Suicide episodes

March 11, 2021 Ep. 61 - She lost her mother to suicide | Katrina Cable
Katrina Cable was 14 years old when her mother died by suicide, but her story goes beyond the pain caused by this kind of loss. At a young age, she had to deal with the death of her father, grandmother, and the rocky road that lied ahead. In this interview, she shares with us how all these losses affected her, the many times she thought she was undeserving of love, and her path to healing.
One of the challenges she faced was to come to terms with the fact that her mother had her own issues and traumas, which didn’t stop her from loving her daughter. “I kept telling myself that she had chosen drugs over me, but now I see it differently,” she told me. I’m grateful for her reaching out and wanting to share her story with us. I hope she inspires my audience to find their own path through their pain.
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide.”
Donate to the podcast: https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page: https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
33 min
March 05, 2021 Ep. 60 - Helping suicidal people and grieving families | My interview to the podcast "Which way?"
I gave this interview to the podcast "Which way?" which I highly recommend. It is hosted by daughter and mother Shari and Jann Simmons. We talked about suicide grief and how to help suicidal people.
Find the podcast Which Way?
https://apple.co/30b8SZa
Watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide":
https://bit.ly/3vvQV60
Donate to my podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/paula-fontenelle/message
50 min
February 27, 2021 Ep. 59 - It's ok that you're not ok | Megan Devine
Every time someone asks me to suggest a grief book, I add Megan Devine’s bestselling book “It's ok that you’re not ok: meeting grief and loss in a culture that doesn’t understand” to the top of the list. It is a beautifully written testimonial of the messy, unpredictable, often judged process of grief. Megan is a psychotherapist, writer, and grief advocate. Her work has been featured widely in the media, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, Washington Post, GQ, Harvard Business Review, and NPR’s Marketplace. Her latest collaborative project, Speaking Grief, debuted in 2020, from PBS.
In this interview, she talks about how difficult it is for all of us to know how to help someone in grief. Not only that, but also how to examine our own views on loss. Here are some tips from our conversation:
- Practice listening to the pain. People don’t need to be corrected. They need to be heard.
- What we do out of our own discomfort. Avoid platitudes.
- It’s ok to lead with your awkwardness. We want to name it rather than manage the awkwardness.
My favorite:
“We can actually change the world just by being kinder and by listening, and not trying to solve somebody else’s pain for them. And by watching for those places where we feel catty about other people’s losses because what that really is is a message to ourselves that we don’t feel supported enough in our own lives and that’s valid.”
Find Megan Devine:
Book “It's ok that you’re not ok: meeting grief and loss in a culture that doesn’t understand”
- https://refugeingrief.com/book/
- PBS documentary “Speaking Grief:” https://speakinggrief.org/
- Webpage: https://refugeingrief.com/
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide:"
https://bit.ly/2NKwIsa
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/paula-fontenelle/message
58 min
February 13, 2021 Ep. 58 - His wife attempted suicide | Adam Buck
This episode is a continuation of the previous one, so if you didn’t listen to it, please do.
Mequell’s husband, Adam Buck talks about his side of their story: how he coped with her suicide attempt and all the changes they had to make so that the family could break free from an unhealthy lifestyle. One of the things he shared was a daily fear he had every time he left home. When driving off to work, he would think: “Will she make it?”
When referring to daily chores and work obligations, he feels that although he would say that the family was the most important thing in his life, it wasn’t until Mequell survived her suicide attempt that he realized he needed to change as well, otherwise, they wouldn’t make it. “I was tested to see if I would put her before all these other things, and I failed.”
This interview is valuable to all those who deal with mental illness among friends and family members.
Listen to their podcast, “Thriving with mental illness:”
https://anchor.fm/mequell-buck
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://youtu.be/ko9kU2l2M1I
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
41 min
February 05, 2021 Ep. 57 - Her suicide attempt was a wake up call | Mequell Buck
Before her suicide attempt, Mequell Buck had always been a high achiever. Like so many other women, she juggled work, taking care of her kids, and being a wife, all of it trying to maintain the highest levels of perfection possible. But her life changed drastically when she woke up in the hospital and realized what had happened.
From that day on, she knew then that her priorities had to be reset and her future could not be focused on results and achievement anymore. Mequell learned to respect her own limitations, how to say “no,” the importance of managing expectations, and how to connect with her needs. Such a change had an impact on the whole family dynamics because everyone had to adapt. In this interview, she talks about the process of rebuilding their lives as a unit, and how this transition strengthened their relationships.
Next week, her husband Adam will talk to us about his experience through her suicide attempt and mental illness.
Listen to her podcast, “Thriving with mental illness:”
https://anchor.fm/mequell-buck
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://bit.ly/3avo5Ja
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
44 min
January 23, 2021 Ep. 56 - A story of resilience | Shari and Jann Simmons
This has been one of the most inspirational stories I’ve come across since I started this podcast. For the first time, I invited two guests to participate: Shari and Jann Simmons. I listened to them a few months ago and decided that having them together would be a powerful experience for my audience.
Shari is a therapist who works with trauma and she does a beautiful job in explaining to us how our brains respond to painful experiences. Then, well, I guess you will have to listen to the episode because I want to avoid ruining the surprise.
The only thing I must say is that it’s one of the most moving examples of resilience I’ve ever heard and I feel privileged that they shared it with us.
Find Shari and Jann
www.thetraumaspeakers.com
Buy their book “Which way?”
https://sharisimmons.com/book/
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://bit.ly/2Y78aLy
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
51 min
January 16, 2021 Ep. 55 - His job was to approach suicidal people at the Golden Gate bridge | Kevin Briggs
Kevin Briggs has had a life of service: First in the Army, then as a correctional officer, and finally in the Highway patrol in CA, which included patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge, a hotspot for suicide. His job was precisely to talk to people who were threatening to jump off the bridge. He has a TED Talk called “The bridge between suicide and life,” which has been watched for over 3.5 million people. Today he is a mental health and suicide prevention speaker and trainer.
For more than a decade, he would go to the bridge and talk to those at risk, something he had never been trained to do. Kevin answered hundreds of emergency calls. In this interview, he shares what he learned about suicidal people, powerful stories of those he saved, what they had in common, ways to approach this population, what to avoid, and how his view on mental health has evolved since then. He also talks about his personal history of suicide: his grandfather took his life, something the family has never discussed.
After years of avoiding his own mental illness, Kevin reached his limit and started treatment for depression.
In 2019, there were 28 confirmed suicides on the bridge and 167 interventions. Since its inauguration in 1937, over 1,700 have died by jumping off the Golden Gate.
Watch Kevin’s TED Talk:
https://bit.ly/2LXrbgp
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://bit.ly/3itSlIl
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
50 min
January 08, 2021 Ep. 54 - She lost her partner, then her father to suicide | Jessica
When Jessica contacted me by email, she wrote that her life had been “engulfed by suicide.” First, it was her partner when their kid was a few days from turning two years of age. Then, eight years later, her father took his life and this happened only three months ago. Jessica contacted me because she wanted to share her story, a story that was put on hold because of the grief she couldn’t experience eight years ago. “I had to raise my son, to work, to go on with life,” she explained.
As it often happens with suicide loss survivors, she was blamed by others, and she internalized this guilt, which resulted in her punishing herself by getting into abusive relationships and substance use until she hit rock bottom. Today, she wants to help break the silence surrounding suicide because she knows how destructive it can be.
Thank you, Jessica, for helping break the stigma, and for trusting me to sit with you during such a painful time in your life.
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://bit.ly/2XlwXLp
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
37 min
December 27, 2020 Goodbye 2020
This is my end of the year message to you with some announcements for 2021. May 2020 be behind us!
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/paula-fontenelle/message
9 min
December 18, 2020 Ep. 53 - He is a multiple suicide attempt survivor | Topher Jerome
Topher Jerome has struggled with suicide ideation most of his life and he has experienced multiple attempts. In this interview, he talks to us about the many times he thought he was done with life, including his life-long battle against substance use disorder. After the most serious of his attempts, when he was hospitalized and almost died, he promised his family it would be the last one.
Topher says that one of the ways he found towards healing was to use his lived experience to help others. He helped develop Jaspr Health, a platform that is now being used in hospitals and clinics around the United States. In our conversation, he shares some of its features, particularly the video testimonials that allow those who are in crisis to see that they are not alone in their pain.
If you want to support my work, buy me a coffee. This will help me keep bringing hope to those touched by suicide: https://bit.ly/3whorPH
You can watch this interview on my YouTube Channel "Understand Suicide"
https://youtu.be/EWfo0PimNcw
Donate to the podcast:
https://bit.ly/3maL9RO
Visit my page www.understandsuicide.com
Find my book "Understanding suicide: living with loss, paths to prevention"
https://amzn.to/2ANczuR
Contact me and exchange experiences on my Facebook page:
https://bit.ly/3h8sIet
45 min