news@dailylobo.com
UNM student Alicia Crespin said she had a friend who tried to kill herself once. She said her friend had troubles dealing with her personal problems but did not want to receive professional help. Crespin said she was clueless about how to deal with the situation.
“She never sought help on her own,” she said. “She was unhappy. At the time I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was there and I listened to her, but I didn’t know what to tell her.”
Crespin, who is now a volunteer for Agora Crisis Center, said students should be aware of the University’s suicide-prevention resources. But she said students struggling with suicide are often afraid to seek out help from others.
Crespin sat alongside hundreds of students Thursday night to listen to a lecture by Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of the suicide-prevention organization To Write Love on Her Arms. The event was organized by ASUNM’s Student Special Events.
Tworkowski said he founded the organization after his friend Renee, who was suicidal and was addicted to drugs, sliced the words “Fuck up” on her arms one night. He said he and his friends then tried to sell shirts with the words “To Write Love on Her Arms” to people to be able to pay for Renee’s medical expenses and to help her get psychiatric help.
But Tworkowski said Renee’s story needed to be heard by other people who might relate to it, so he wrote Renee’s story and posted it on a website he created in February 2006. The foundation was founded in Florida one month after the story was published.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘The story you’re telling is my story,’” he said. “It was a great surprise and part of it was incredibly exciting. It wasn’t something that we have expected.”
Tworkowski said that two out of three people who experience depression do not get help with their issues. He said depressed people are often scared to open up their emotions to others.
“Pain became the way they deal with pain,” he said. “But as people, we need other people. A support system is something we all deserve and that we all need.”
Tworkowski said people who struggle with suicidal thoughts should never succumb to them.
“This stuff is just part of the human experience,” he said. “In this life we will experience pain. We will lose people and we will lose experiences. It becomes more tempting to live in the past, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
SSE Executive Director Jessica Duncan said the group initiated the lecture due to recent suicides on campus.
In fall 2011, a female student attempted suicide by jumping off from the fourth floor of the Yale Parking Structure. In March last year, a student in the fraternity Sigma Chi was found dead in his room. The death was ruled a suicide.
Duncan said the organization started planning the event in September last year. She said representatives from the LGBTQ Resource Center, the Women’s Resource Center and Agora Crisis Center were present at the event.
Duncan said various on-campus groups, such as the Agora Crisis Center and the Student Health and Counseling center offer counseling services to students who are thinking about suicide. She said the University is doing a good job with suicide prevention on campus.
“They definitely raise a lot of awareness,” she said. “If you walk around campus, you’ll see places that have Agora posters on them. They’ve also been advertising the resources in the SUB.”
Duncan said the event aims to help students cope with depression and thoughts of suicide. She said students should not hesitate to use suicide-prevention resources on campus and to vent to other people if they’re struggling with thoughts of suicide.
“If you’re struggling, just talk to someone,” she said. “It’s really not that hard. A lot of people are dealing with these issues and they don’t seek help. It’s okay if they need help, and if they’re struggling with these, they’re not alone.”
Evan Honeyestewa, 28, said his aunt committed suicide when he was young and left two sons and one daughter behind.
He said people should never handle thoughts of suicide alone.
“Suicide is a permanent fix to a temporary problem,” he said. “It is not cowardly to get help. A lot of people deal with this stuff and you’re not alone. There is help out there and there are people out there willing to help you.”
If you or somebody you know is suffering from depression, call the 24/7 Agora Crisis Center hotline at (505) 277-3013.
