My name is Pamela Mott and I am a licensed mental health counselor in a small little town. I have four children and I am married. I experience an enormous amount of stress. I often feel that I should be able to save the world. My family lineage is riddled with the effects of serious mental illness.
This is a story about all our families. This is a story of the suffrage of many.
I stood in the kitchen on an average morning. A social media picture of an accident…I knew this person to be one of my own. I knew this person to be the child of one of my own…I knew this child had attempted to end their life…I spent endless hours in the emergency room; hoping, waiting, praying that someone would hear me; that someone would understand that their life was hanging by a small silver thread.
I listened as a friend told the tale of their spouse’s desperate plea to save their own life…their spouse one of my own…one of my own who longs to escape the psychological injuries.
I listen as a mother gasps for air, explaining that a life has been lost.
I walk into a high school as an auditorium of teens exits. One of theirs is gone…one of mine is gone.
I bargain with a soul that is so wounded. I trade hope for despair. I place despair in the trash; I hold the hope. Some of mine, some of ours, teeter so close to the edge.
I hold the hope for humanity. I find hope in telling stories, of overcoming adversity. I find hope in offering a voice of compassion…of understanding. What helps is that others listen…that others care…an understanding that I am no different than them. Small things save lives.
I am different today. I am a bit of a wreck. I have reached out to my own.
There is a need to address the conditions that lead to the loss of life. There is a need to discuss the challenges of being human. To create preventative communities, a sense of safety. Compassion.
What helps is having the ability to access help; to be able to speak to someone that will take the nature of mental wellbeing serious. To find a space of soft landing, understanding.
I would like to see more people have access to effective mental health treatment. I would like to see people be cared for before they attempt to take their lives.
If I were talking to law makers, I would be looking for engagement projects that prevent child abuse and neglect. I would be looking to draw individuals into the mental health field. I would be looking to encourage meditation, compassion, understanding and overall love. I would seek to encourage wellbeing for all of ours.