As a mental health nurse, Meagan knows first hand what it is like to look in the eyes of persons who suffer from various mental health issues in the while trying to help them. She knows only too well, the pain of being ostracized, isolated and in pain. But when you lose your brother to suicide, the very thing you have tried to prevent in yourself, your family and your patients, the pain comes home to roost.
She is this week's guest, and she is opening up about life as a sibling suicide survivor (an independent risk for suicide), a wife, a mother and a daughter in anguish. She talks about losing her brother, the pain and the effect that had on her, and continues to have on her as well as her extended family.
After reading one of her comments on FB, I knew instantly that I had to interview her.
Listen to: how she describes her encounters with her beloved brother during his last days, what she has to say about a phenomenon that was entirely new to me, called "Upstream Nursing", "Police Wellness Checks", suffering from her own depression while mothering a son struggling with the same, and the unique combination of risk factors that ultimately took her brother's life.
I was super stoked to interview this gentle heart of a woman, I can only hope that I did her interview, justice.
Quotables
"I am better because I take it" (Lexapro, and antidepressant)
"Do not stop caring, never stop intervening"
"Every day, think about one thing you love about the person"
"Allow yourself to feel the way you feel"
"If you help one person, you can change the world"
Meagan can be found on Facebook in various suicide bereavement groups, volunteering for Youth Mental First Aid, or reading suicide survival books.
Peace Still,
Dr. L
