'Reach out for help': Suicide prevention events aim to inspire hope in students
Free PressSep 28, 2022
Sep. 29—MANKATO — Immediately after
The
She shared the film and talked to
The events, planned well in advance, come as students at both schools continue to grieve the losses of classmates to suicide this year and last year.
Benoit hopes talking about the issue shows young people that hope and help are out there. If the anonymous student questions submitted to her Wednesday are any indication, young people were ready to talk about it.
"When you're struggling, the most important thing to do is reach out for help," she said before the screening. "You're not alone, and silence will never keep you safe."
Wednesday was the first student-centered event with Benoit in
Mel and
The loss of Hoffner and then a student at Mankato West last week, combined with rising mental health struggles at so many schools in the country right now, make suicide prevention events so important, said Mankato East Principal
"In our country right now mental health is a big deal," he said. "And (so is) getting people the help they need and the opportunity to talk to professionals about how they're feeling and be much more transparent than we've ever been in our society."
Students submitted more than 100 questions for Benoit through an anonymous page set up during the event. From her wheelchair — she didn't regain full use of her legs after her suicide attempt — she answered several after the screening, along with meeting with a long line of students one-on-one afterward.
One anonymous student's question asked how they can talk to people about how they're feeling if they feel scared or guilty about it. Benoit drew from her own experience in her response.
It's a valid emotion, she said, and it may not be a comfortable conversation.
"But it does make you feel a little bit lighter when you share it with someone," she said. "I know personally, when I fell back into a state of depression after I got home from the hospital, I made a big change and I said I'm not going to internalize these feelings. I'm not going to keep them all tucked away to myself. I'm going to open up and I'm going to share that with my loved ones."
Another student question asked about ways to help with anxiety.
Benoit encouraged students to support each other and take care not to put too much pressure on themselves.
"You have your whole life ahead of you to figure out what it is you want to do and who you want to be and what you want to study," she said. " ... That stress and pressure does affect your mental state, so just remind yourself you have a lot of time to figure all those things out and you don't have to have it all figured out."
To a student's question about how they can help others get through a tough time, Benoit said to remember you don't need to be a mental health professional to help.
"A lot of times when someone is struggling they're just looking for someone to talk to, to vent to, and get all that emotion out in the open," she said. "So the best thing you can do as a support person is be an active listener."
Benoit held another screening and Q&A for Mankato East students in the afternoon Wednesday. Her Thursday event at West includes meeting with individual classes.
For more information on Benoit's film, go to www.myascension.us.
The national suicide prevention lifeline offers free support to people in crisis and can be reached via a new, simplified, 988 phone number.
Follow
___
(c)2022 The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.)
Visit The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.) at www.mankatofreepress.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.