Suicide attempt survivor, Rudy Caseres, talks about suicide awareness and his own experiences.
Transcription:
It’s OK to want to die. It’s OK to have suicidal thoughts. That doesn’t make you a bad person.
Talking About Suicide With People Who’ve Been There: Rudy Caseres, Mental Health Advocate
When I was in a dark place, I really wanted people to just listen to me without being judgmental. I often felt like I couldn’t be myself around people.
Something that I’ve never really been taught or told enough in my life is that, “Rudy, it’s OK to be yourself. I love you for being you.” And that’s really at the root of my mental health issues and what’s caused me to wonder, “What’s the point of living if I can’t live the life that I want to live.” So if more and more people could tell me that, then I wouldn’t be so suicidal at times.
I didn’t feel like I had really anyone to talk to because I was so worried that if I expressed my suicidal thoughts that I would either be laughed at, people would try to give me bad advice, or I would go to the hospital and nothing would be solved.
I think that we need to go into why people want to talk their lives, and not necessarily say that, “What you’re thinking is a lie,” that, “Your suicidal thoughts are meaningless,” and that, “You just need to do x, y, and z and you’ll be all better.” We need to live in that dark zone for a while. There’s a reason why so many people are suicidal, why so many people take their lives. And until we address the root of that, instead of trying to erase it or sweep it under the rug, we’re never going to lower the suicidal rates, and more and more people are going to feel like they can’t open up.
People shouldn’t be afraid of people with suicidal thoughts. The more and more we can normalize suicidality, then I think the more people would be willing to open up and get help and to want to stay.
I want more and more people to feel like they can be expressive about their mental health without fear of being punished and feeling like they’re invalidated.
What keeps me going now is that I do have a lot to offer the world. I think back to all the accomplishments that I’ve had, it always helps when I can go back to old emails and messages from people, people that I didn’t even know who have told me that my work has inspired them to talk about their own issues or to become and advocate, and as long as I have that in my life then I want to keep on living.
You found our Mighty Video hub! Here you can watch all Mighty-produced videos to date.
themightyvideo