A life lived … a life lost … Our lives were changed the moment our brother, son, and friend John ended his life. My 20-year-old brother died by suicide. Out of tragedy came hope. I founded the Barb Smith Suicide Resource and Response Network as a way to survive a journey that no one could prepare for nor ever want to travel.
John was caring, fun, giving and felt love and gave love to the fullest. But on his worse day/moment, he didn’t know what to do with his pain. The whys, would’ves, could’ves and should haves almost destroyed me. I needed to be his voice and the voice of others who had no words.
It is my mission to now ensure that people have the tools to not only recognize a concern for suicide and learn to help but to remind anyone who struggles with their life challenges to know there is hope and it is OKAY to ask for help. It is imperative that we teach the importance of safe storage. We know the more time we put between access to guns and the hurting individual, the better chance of saving a life.