I care about suicide prevention.

That's an easy statement to make but a hard statement to act upon.

Maybe a personal story will make this clearer for you. I have struggled with depression since the age of 13. I "came out of the closet" in eighth grade, and that changed my life forever. I was immediately told that I probably had depression from all of the bullying, and that I needed therapy. I went to therapy and was put on an antidepressant that almost killed me. I was misdiagnosed by a therapist and a doctor. Unaware of the fact that I was misdiagnosed, I continued to take my prescribed medicine. I thought the medicine was helping me — until I had suicidal thoughts. I tried to reach out for help from my peers at school, but I was deemed as overdramatic and told that maybe feeling this way was just a part of my personality. Let it be known that the fact that my peers didn't know what was wrong with me was NOT their faults. Our youth can't understand something like depression because of the stigma tied to it by our entire society — but that is a whole different article I could write.

I was a "bitch." I was "weird." I was anything you could think of that wasn't "normal" in society. What no one (including myself) knew is that I was struggling with Bipolar Depression Disorder. I had highs and lows. That is why I was looked at as overdramatic — no one knew that I couldn't control it. Finally, after explaining to my father the serious mental issues I had, he allowed me to go to a psychiatrist and see if there was anything else I could do. That's when I found out I had Bipolar Depression Disorder.

Since then, I have grown. The only thing I have left to remind me of my disorder is a tattoo. My tattoo says "warr;or" and is a symbol of Project Semicolon. I am proud of myself when I say that I have been off of my medications for Bipolar Depression Disorder for almost a year now. I'm not saying that everyone should come off of their medicine. I'm also not saying that I never struggle with my disorder anymore. I'm saying that my medicine allowed me to get to a point in my life where I could find other things to take place of a drug. Things that take place of my medicine include student involvement, writing, joining Greek life and so much more. If you choose to stay on medication, that is your choice. That wasn't my choice, and I expect to be respected on that.

Suicide prevention is so important. It's important because children shouldn't have to go through what I went through. It's important because we are losing lives over this issue every day. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the US. Does that scare you? It should. You can find more suicide statistics here.

This week (September 5 through September 11) is National Suicide Prevention Week, and World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10.

How can you get involved?

Here at SIUE iCare events will be hosted throughout the week.

Ways to get involved in National Suicide Prevention Week off of SIUE's campus can be found here.