KANSAS CITY, Mo. — September is Suicide Prevention Month, but KSHB 41's Caroline Hogan talked to mother's who said parents should be talking to their kids about mental health every day.
Sarah Schroer has as great relationship with her 16-year-old daughter, Ariana.
So much so, Ariana felt comfortable coming to her mother, emotional, after hearing about how kids who had recently died by suicide at another school district.
Schroer is concerned. She doesn't want more kids to suffer.
"And just also as a parent, it’s just the worst thing you can imagine happening to your child," Schroer said.
BJ Thomas-Wilson and Sylvia Harrell have felt that pain.
Thomas-Wilson lost her daughter, Regan, and Harrell lost her son, Chad. Both tragedies happened in 2017.
"When we’re hearing about this uptick that’s now right at the end of this summer, we’re heartbroken," Harrell said.
Knowing all the resources the children have and all the work they've done to help makes the news harder.
"It has been gut wrenching because we’re just like, where is this coming from?" Harrell said. "And we just don’t know."
Thomas-Wilson explains suicide creates a ripple effect.
"But what we learned after losing our kids is you focus that attention on that inner circle, but there’s a ripple that happens, and anyone that knew that child or knew that family, they’re impacted by it," Thomas-Wilson said. "My question is: what’re we doing to make sure that all of the kids have a support system, because we don’t know if they knew that child."
The two have been involved in numerous organizations spreading mental health awareness, including starting their own, GiveMe20.
With GiveMe20, they have kids decorate boxes and fill the inside with reasons why life is worth living.
"Just very basic things like 10 things that they like about themselves, um, people to call, that they promise to call if they’re struggling," Thomas-Wilson said.
The strategy behind it is having the kids think about reasons to live life, instead of end it.
They also remind kids that it's important to talk to anyone they feel comfortable with.
"I think my biggest thing is you have to assume that at some point your kid is going to struggle," Thomas-Wilson said. "You have to be having the conversations all the time; you have to be checking in all the time."
Schroer agrees those conversations are extremely important.
"If we don’t talk about it then it’s just going to continue to happen," Schroer said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Caroline Hogan covers development across the Kansas City area. Share your story idea with Caroline.
