Suicide Loss

I got an email from a good friend about having lost a friend to suicide. There are so many resources available, but I realized there's not really a single "Oh God, you just found out that your friend died" video or resource. Might be something our team will be working on soon. Here's the list we came up with, for now.

Keep living folks - we'll keep working to make sure you have all the help you need.

• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org) offers 24/7 emotional support via their hotline - 1-800-273-TALK. The calls are free and confidential and anyone is welcome to call, especially after experiencing a loss like this.Save & Close
• http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=257&name=DLFE-457.pdf - this is a great pdf with facts about grief and loss. 
• http://www.suicidology.org/suicide-survivor-resources is a whole page of reading materials. 
• There's also this list which is written by a survivor of suicide loss named Iris Bolton. Her book is called "My Son, My Son" and is the go-to for survivor of loss literature. http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=257&name=DLFE-454.pdf

Emotion Technology and Contact USA Launch CrisisChat.org IndieGoGo Campaign

ET is proud to announce partnership with Contact USA to help keep CrisisChat.org open longer at night. Crisis Chat provides critical life saving emotional support and we are inspired and honored to be working with them to help reach important fundraising goals.

With this fundraising campaign, Crisis Chat hopes to expand hours between 1 a.m. – 4 a.m. EST for three months. They have received so many requests from chat visitors telling them that these are the hours they need. Help us save lives by giving today or sharing our IndieGoGo video on all your social networking sites!

 Watch our campaign video:

CrisisChat Promotional Video from Emotion Technology on Vimeo.

 Click below to check out the campaign:  

Midnight Oil

I'm up late tonight doing a lot of stuff - preparing for the awesome onslaught that is SXSWi, working on an idea for some diabetes videos, and getting amped for something that we're launching tomorrow. 

Add to that a few more proposals, and an early morning airport run and I'm pretty amped. 

Owning and operating a small business, don't let anyone tell you it's easier than working for el jeffe. 

Born This Way

I was at the launch symposium and event for the Born This Way Foundation at Harvard last week. It was amazing. Energizing. And Overwhelming. What do we do, as people practicing mental and public health, to create programs and services that help create a "Braver, Kinder World?" That's what I'm thinking about this week. That's what I'm meeting about this week. 

Love. It's about love somehow. 

Loved.

We've just started working to prevent youth suicide in New Jersey. And sadly, two weeks ago a young man died. The mother of another NJ kid wrote in the Star Ledger:

"Young people: Know that you are valued and loved, and reconsider reaching out to someone you trust before making an irreversible decision. Please talk to someone."

I'm happy to be working in this space, but sad that a young man died before we even had the chance to begin. 

NJ youth, if you are in crisis, 2nd Floor Youth Helpline at (888) 222-2228.