Stories of Hope and Recovery

Terry Wise survived a suicide attempt in her thirties and has since become a well-known author and speaker.

"If I was to sum up my life today, the word that I would use to describe it is fulfilling."

Josh's personal experience with the suicide of a family member aided him with his own struggles.

"People care, they love you, and they want to support you. There's somebody and something in this world that is better because you're around. I know it might be hard to see, but it's there. Explore and look for that. You're important and you matter. If you could stick around for that, you'd be helping tremendously. Just because you've been in one place at one point doesn't mean you can't make an incredible life for yourself and help other people. Everybody's important and everybody matters. Just because you don't see it right now doesn't mean it's not true."

Leah opens up about her previous suicide attempts and discusses what motivated her to keep pushing forward for life.

"Recovery is real. You can recover from this, even if you have symptoms. Those don’t mean you aren’t in a process of recovery. [Recovery] is really just a process of achieving the kind of life you want—not just an absence of symptoms, or feeling okay all the time, but that struggle where you have support to get on the path you want to get on."

Ashley shares her childhood experiences and her growth into being a mental health advocate following years of therapy and counseling.

"Don't be afraid to talk about it.... Speak up. Doesn't matter if you know someone who is considering it, or if you are the person considering it. Go to everybody. Go to a complete stranger. Call someone. Doesn't even have to be anyone you know, especially if you're worried about someone you know freaking out on you. Call someone. There are places to go for that. There are people who are willing to sit there and listen, who can help."

Bart is a clinical psychologist whose past has shaped how he approaches life and his career today.

"For me, it’s important because I think there’s a lot of us. We’re really afraid to tell our stories because we’re afraid we’re going to lose our jobs. People are going to take our degrees away. They’re going to take our licenses away. They’re going to think I’m not a good therapist. What that means is that we don’t talk about it. And if we view other providers this way, what does it say about the people that we treat if we have this view of providers as being “damaged goods” or “wounded?”