Debra Mark - Suicide Prevention Month Story Part 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
September is National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
And experts say suicide remains one of the leading causes
of death nationally.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
We've seen a continual increase in the number of people
dying by suicide, with approximately fifty thousand people dying by suicide,
and here in California we have about four thousand people
dying by suicide each year.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Sherry Sinwelski is with Deed Hirsch Mental Health Services. In
twenty twenty, there were eight hundred twenty nine suicides in
La County, making it the eighth leading cause of death,
and officials say more than thirty three hundred people tried
to kill themselves that same year.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's a combination of stressors. It can be mental illness,
that they're struggling with particular things that are happening in
their life. You know, we're still coming off of the
pandemic where there was a lot of isolation. People of course,
are facing financial constraints sometimes and all different types of
events that are impacting their personal lives. I think that

(01:00):
those stressors have gotten more intense.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Uh Well, A younger brother died by suicide twenty one
years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
That's Rick Mogel, the death of his brother would be
the start of his journey as a bereavement counselor at
dede Hirsh Did you ever feel embarrassed or did you
ever feel uncomfortable or concerned about what people would say
when you told them what happened to your brother.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
No, I was very forthcoming. I was shouting from the
rooftops because I didn't want anybody to feel that. First
of all, that ed suicide to find him, nor did
it define me.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
But Rick says, if you're not comfortable talking about the
details of a loved one's suicide, then.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Don't we have every right to say to somebody who
wants to know the details that you have every right
to say to somebody it's too painful and I don't
want to talk about it.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
So how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
This's of all, this is Joey doing good.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
So I fell into.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
Massive, deep depression in twenty thirteen after my marriage fell apart.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I met up with him at Northridge Park, a place
he used to come to when he wanted to hide
from people. This is actually the first time he's been
back here since he tried to kill himself in twenty sixteen.
He had moved into his parents' home after his marriage ended.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
So I tried to hang myself and I was out.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Who found you?

Speaker 5 (02:36):
I woke up and I heard my dad knock on
the door, and I don't know why there's no locks
on my parents' doors.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
I don't know why he didn't come in. And I
was on the ground and he said.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
Joey, okay, and I didn't wanted to see me, and
I said, Dad, I'm fine, I'm fine.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
And that was that. I never told anybody for four years, nobody.
My thought was I was a burden and that I
had nothing to give, that I had.

Speaker 5 (03:10):
No hope, that I had no purpose, and that everyone
would be better off if I wasn't around because I
wasn't productive, I wasn't doing anything.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
So my thought process was this will be better for everyone.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
I asked Joey if he ever thought about the people
he would leave behind.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
I'm telling you that I thought I was committing an
unselfish act.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
I thought I was doing something that would relieve everybody
of pain. That's what I thought.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
And uh, you can tell me it's it was selfish
of me to do it, but I will tell you
I didn't look at it that way. So Uh, when
I hear people say this was such a selfish thing
to do, well, every time I hear that, I hear
that from somebody who's never been suffered mentally deeply.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
To that point, you know, I felt like I was
relieving everybody's pain. And honestly, I don't know that I
thought about my kids at that time.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
It was such a painful time, and I wasn't seeing them,
and I wasn't seen anybody.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Joey says he's much better now. He's been in therapy,
receive treatment, and even volunteered for the new nine to
eight eight suicide Prevention hotline tomorrow. In Part two, running
down the hallway to her bedroom, and there was my mom.
The morning I found my mother's suicide note,