Yesterday, at the request of my co-guider who’s been working on a bullying challenge with the girls but would be missing the meeting, I got to speak to my rangers about suicide, self harm, and mental illness. Obviously it was tough for me and I did cry a bit but I feel this is the sort of thing it’s really important to talk with teens about.

We started with a conversation about the recent suicides of Samantha Kelly and Doran Richardson, both tragic deaths. This lead into a conversation about the causes of suicide which lead to my presentation. Because, yes, I have a powerpoint. I was actually working on it on Tuesday because I’d been meaning to throw one together and then I got the call… uber weird. Clearly a sign from the Gods. (Odin? Thanks.)

If you’re interested in seeing that powerpoint, I’ve uploaded it here (and the fonts I used are here and here). Obviously, it misses something when you don’t get all my personal input and stories with it, but it still has lots of really good facts and – I believe – has a really good message.

Also, I found a rather interesting article in my search for info on those two. Check it out.