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Jul 8, 2022 · The emotive outdoor gallery displays 50 smiling photos taken in the last days of people who died by suicide. Simon, 63. It also shares the stories of shock and grief their families and...
Jul 15, 2022 · A suicide prevention campaign is using photography to send a powerful message. Called The Last Photo, it shares the last picture of someone before they died by suicide. Accompanying the image is a story about the person, as told by the family or friends who shared it.
Jun 23, 2022 · The emotional outdoor gallery displays 50 smiling photos taken in the last days of people who died by suicide. It also shares the stories of shock and grief their families and friends...
Step into the world of IDFA and discover the power of creative documentary films. Explore what's on and how you can get involved.
- Overview
- Gabe
- Jonathan
- Tamar
- Jo
- There is always hope
This photo series captures portraits of depression, resilience, and hope.
Suicide rates in the United States have increased dramatically over the past 20 years. There are 129 deaths by suicide nationwide every day.
Discussed less often, there are around 1.1 million attempts at suicide every year — or over 3,000 a day, on average — many of which do not end in death.
Nevertheless, we often struggle to bring up suicidal thoughts with those we love, even when we know someone might be struggling, or we’re struggling ourselves.
I believe it isn’t that we don’t care, rather that we don’t have a common language to discuss such topics or an awareness of when we should reach out and how. We worry that we won’t say the right thing, or worse, that we’ll say something that’ll cause the person to act on their ideation.
In reality, asking someone directly about suicide is often a way to both help the person feel heard — and help them find the help and resources they need.
I feel like suicidality is something that’s been an inherent part my entire life.
I think that we live in a culture that values strength and perseverance and has this very naive belief that everyone is born in the same circumstances with the same bodies with the same chemicals in their brains that work the way they’re supposed to work.
On experiencing mental illness
I’ve been in the hospital three times for depression [and suicidal thoughts] and two times after suicide attempts in the last seven years.
On the upside of mental illness challenges
There’s a stigma with mental illness. [But] I’m definitely not ashamed of my past! If I’d never dealt with this stuff, I wouldn’t be the person I am today and I wouldn’t have figured out who I am or the person I want to be.
On advice to people who experience suicidal ideation
I think doing what makes you happy in life is the most important. That’s why I dress the way I want. I want to show others it’s okay. Don’t let other people tell you how you should live your life.
On mental illness, homelessness, and poverty
Because I grew up homeless and lived in a lot of homeless populations, we didn’t consider people sick. Drugs, alcohol, being suicidal, being schizophrenic — that was all just normal to us. At the time it felt like the only way out was suicide. That I didn’t have any other options, there wasn’t anybody coming to save me, there was no system that was going to swoop in and take me away from the things that were causing me pain.
On barriers to getting help for people living in poverty
I didn’t have a framework around what [it meant] to be mentally healthy, what [it meant] to get help. Everybody says there’s help, get help. What does that mean? There was nobody who said, “Hey look, if you don’t have the money, here’s volunteer organizations.” I got no information when I was discharged from the hospital [for attempting suicide] besides don’t do it again, find help.
On receiving affordable help for the first time (from Open Path)
It was the first time in my life that mental health was in reach. It was the first time someone articulated to me that [following through on suicidal thoughts] wasn’t an imperative. I didn’t have to listen to it. That was life changing for me.
On losing her husband to suicide
My husband had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and he also had what we call a “moral injury,” which I think is really important when talking about veterans. The way I’ve heard it described is that it’s basically having performed acts during your time of service that were required by your service but that go against and violate your own moral code or the code of society at large. I think my husband suffered from tremendous guilt and neither he nor I had the tools to figure out how to process this guilt.
On the isolation of survivors
About a year and a half after he died I quit my job as a lawyer and began to do photography because I needed something to do for my own healing. What I experienced was profound isolation and that sense that you know, the world was out there, and everyone was moving on with their daily life, and I was on what I used to refer to as “planet my husband died by suicide.”
On her life as a survivor of suicide
What I have come to discover is that it’s actually pretty common when you have a first-degree suicide loss like that to continue to have [suicidal] feelings yourself. I know what’s helped me is spending a lot of time particularly with my veteran friends who have been trained in peer support and suicide prevention. It’s so helpful to have someone who can check in and say, “Are you thinking about harming yourself?” but to go further and say “Do you have a plan and do you have a date?”
Through organizations like Forefront, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and others, there’s movement towards shifting our approach to suicidality, reducing stigma, and breaking the silence.
Our hope is that the brave individuals you met above can help be a part of that movement and that breaking of silence, bringing light to a topic that is too often avoided, ignored, or stigmatized.
For those experiencing suicidality, you’re not alone, and there is always hope, even if it doesn’t feel like it now.
If you or a loved one are experiencing thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, check out this list of resources, or send a text here.
When someone you care about has attempted suicide, it can be hard to know what to do or say. We're here to help you support them – and yourself. On this page: How you might feel after their suicide attempt. How to talk about their suicide attempt. Tips to help them cope.
Feb 26, 2015 · 15 Suicide-Attempt Survivors Tell Their Stories. ALL PHOTOs: COURTESY OF DESE’RAE L. STAGE. Years after her suicide attempt, Dese’Rae L. Stage Googled “suicide survivor.” “What I found ...
