***If you are thinking about taking your life, please call Integral Care's Crisis Helpline at 512-472-HELP (4357). It's open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.***
Suicide and mental health are often difficult issues to talk about. Each year, thousands of people take their own lives, but what happens if you look beyond the numbers and statistics?
Instead of hearing that one person dies by suicide every three days in Travis County, let's take a look at the story of a survivor -- someone who survived multiple attempted suicides and now uses her story to help others.
"I'll say, first at the age of 10," explained Nea Young. "I dealt with suicide attempts, so I always knew something was wrong with me. No one knew I kept it a secret because I felt ashamed. I felt alone and I'll go to school with that on me, still trying to be normal, still trying to interact with everyone, but I could not lift that off of me."
But after multiple suicide attempts, more than five by the time she turned 18, Young was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in 2013. This explained why everyday issues became so much of a problem.
"Those things can really put you in a whole mental state, especially if you already have a mental problem," said Young.
But in 2015, her brother and others decided to get a group together to do something about it. That's when WhatsInTheMirror began as an organization. They canvas areas and hold workshops to help people talk about mental health issues. The workshops and organizing plays allows them to start the dialog.
"Yeah and the idea was for us to be a liaison between the community and the clinician," said Tarik Daniel, Young's brother. "How we treat people really is the solution it's the answer to the stigma."
Using her own experience, she's trying to bring down the number of suicides one person at a time.
If you are thinking about taking your life, please call Integral Care's Crisis Helpline at 512-472-HELP (4357). It's open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.