Typically I won’t dedicate a whole post to the release of a podcast episode, but this one – arnd the trend of suicides in HS’s & colleges is different…it’s a vital listen so that we can come together to reverse these trends.
On “We’re All A Little ‘Crazy,’” @darrenrovell @theofleury14 & I will take current event topics & have guests on to discuss them thru the lens of MH in society. Some are directly related to the topic – like this one is. Some – indirectly related.
Recently we learned of 2 news stories, where we felt addressing this particular topic, w the RIGHT guests was essential: 1) that Katie Meyer’s fam was suing Stanford for wrongful death related to the National Champion goalkeeper’s suicide, 2) the WaPo article that portrayed Yale as pressuring students to leave campus if they were having suicidal ideations.
In April, after Katie’s tragic passing, Robert Martin – son of someone who’s become a friend on here @piglet67 passed via suicide. He was a goalkeeper, at a Division 1 university, who died just shortly after Katie- in the SAME way, & I personally was furious that the national media was not tying those 2 stories together. Next slide➡️ seems like 35k of you agreed. I share that # bc it shows – this MATTERS to US. Lives matter. Trends matter – to most/all of US. But this topic is still not getting the attention it deserves & def not the resources.
So, in light of those stories this past wk, we went to 2 fams that’ve become friends on this advocacy path, who are amongst the “highest profile” fams impacted by these tragedies (in quotes bc of course they would choose not to be if it was possible): @hilinskishope parents of Tyler Hilinski, QB for Washington St., & @cherylmcbrown & Hunter, parents of @mckenna.e.brown @the_mckenna_way HS ice hockey goalie phenom from the Tampa area.
Our approach for this discussion was simple…share the stories…but share: 1) what’s NOT working in schools, & 2) ideas for change of what programs CAN work & how we can partner WITH schools for the positive change needed.
Please consider listening so we can all work together. Will post link in Stories & on our profile.