How To Be A Beacon Of Hope To Those Precious In Our Lives
-Relationship Expert/Author Heather Dugan Available For Insights-
This week, fans of The Ellen Degeneres Show and So You Think You Can Dance were shocked and saddened by the unexpected death of beloved Dancer/DJ/Actor/Producer Stephen “Twitch” Boss. The public acknowledgment of his passing by suicide has once again brought to the forefront discussion around mental illness and depression.
Acclaimed author and relationship expertHeather Dugan (The Friendship Upgrade) is offering insights into how we can endeavor to pay better attention to the signs of depression in our friends and loved ones, especially as we come upon a holiday season.
“Stephen “Twitch” Boss’s death has a personal impact on the many who watched him dance across their screens at home and online throughout the years. He exuded joy. To learn that, in the end, he wasn’t able to access that joy within himself is shocking and frightening”, says Dugan.
“The strongest amongst us are often the ones who lack a safe place to download the very basic trials of life, and we need this kind of connection to feel fully human… we have to share our weaknesses to access true strength. None of us can fully know the life experience of another, and some carry far more than we know. Real connection requires more than pleasantries, so create conversations.”
Heather Dugan is available to offer insights and important tips on how we can help those grappling with emotional darkness and supportive thoughts for those who are struggling, despite the challenges of mental illness often being silent or hidden from the view of others.
Their Story Matter with Sara Troy and her guest Laura Suria, on air form March 23rd
My name is Laura Suria. I have a Masters degree in education and a Bachelor degree in Early Education. I am a teacher, mentor, and coach. Later on, in life I decided to further my education in several different healing areas which includes Sound Bowl Therapy, Pranic Healing and as a Practitioner in QHHT – Past Life Regression I am here today to help raise awareness about the life-changing event that took the life away from a healthy, fun loving, and amazing individual, my daughter Isabell Suria.
Isabell was born on January 11, 2000. She grew up in a small town 20 miles from St. Louis Arch in Collinsville, IL. I am married to my husband Rick, we have been together for nearly 32 years and are coming up on our 22nd wedding anniversary. We also have one other child, her young brother Logan who just turned 17 years old in April. At the time we had our 18-year-old cousin, Dante living with us. He came to live with us after the 2 hurricanes that hit the island.” We Love You Puerto Rico”, was inspired by Dante and his family story. Our family began on Jan 11, 2000, with a happy, healthy, loving beautiful baby girl. And through her life, she had many amazing achievements. She played every sport offered from 4th to 8th grade and also was on a National Competition Cheerleading team for 9 years. In her freshman year of high school, she cheered on the varsity cheerleading team, while also taking honours courses to get credit for college. In May 2013, she received her last Gardasil vaccine and 13 days later because ill. She was getting ready for tryouts and the last cheer competition when I decided to run her to the doctor yo check her ear out because she had pain. Little did we know this was the start of years of physical pain. Several years later and many struggles to main good grades and friends we decided to let her hang out with friends to cheer her up. But New Year’s Eve of 2015 is when her life changed forever from physical and now emotions pain. She was at a New Years Eve party, and she was raped by 3 older boys. She was never the same since then. We didn’t find out about the assault until a couple of months after, but when we did we went to the school principal, superintendent and then police departments. This is when cyberbullying started. During the time we weren’t aware of what occurred, she was going to school daily while having those boys in several classes with her. Cyberbullying started to increase and get worse as more people found out. There were several girls who were constantly hateful towards any positive posts of Isabell’s and posts with new friends she was hanging out with. A year after she was sexually assaulted, pictures and tweets resurfaced and were posted on social media about it. It was nearly impossible for Isabell to get away from what happened to her, it followed her everywhere.
After that, we took all the tweets, posts, and hateful texts to the superintendent. All they did was talk to her parents with no punishments. And for the boys, we finally got a response from the DA in June 2015 saying they will not prosecute until we have a video of her saying no. This lead to even more problems with her physical, emotional, and mental state. We made the decision to take her out of high school because of the negative and insulting comments, her anxiety and stress, the bullying, and the lack of support from the school district. She was enrolled at a local college at the age of 17 and was considered a dual-enrolled student since she was also getting her high school diploma. She tried to stay positive amidst it all, but social media or cyberbullying played a major role in her mental health. On January 19 of this year, she posted a poll on Twitter with the options of “Just do it” or “Don’t Do it.” 177 people voted, 59% saying just do it, and 49% saying don’t do it. That 59% that said yes didn’t know what they were voting for. I was not aware of this until after. We did everything we could, got her the best help we could, and tried our best. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The nightmares and flashbacks haunted her every single day. On January 25th, 2018, we lost our Isabell.
It was 2 weeks to the day after her 18th birthday. Social media and bullying is one of the reasons we lost her. There is a growing epidemic of bullying and suicide, and we have made it our mission to raise awareness and make a change. Right after her 18th birthday, she went and got a tattoo down her spine that read “From Pain Comes Strength,” which was her motto. We have now started to get From Pain Comes Strength to be a recognized organization. With the help of our family, friends, and other supports, we can make a change. It is a daily effort we all have to make, but if we want it and set our minds to it, I am confident we can make a difference. Let’s make it all of our’s personal missions to raise awareness of bullying, sexual assault, and suicide, and educate our youth about how we can make a difference between two mission with Pure Mission and Willie J. Willy J heard about Dante and was greatly touched and asked the Suria Family to send personal photos of the devastation of from the hurricane Maria. Within talking to Dante about how bad the condition was and not having power for over 100 Willie J wrote, ” We Love You Puerto Rico” in an effort to draw awareness of how life can change so quickly. Dante was the same age as Isabell and for the most part, got along and helped each other out. Dante left his family to finish high school in the states because his school was so damaged by the storm. Arron Emig stepped in and started to mentor Dante and Bob Emig Foundation paid for him to attend a local high school where Arron graduated.
The Bob Emig Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization, was started in 2004. Founder Aaron Emig, Bob’s oldest son, created the foundation to continue his father’s work in helping youth develop well-rounded lives by providing them a healthy sports experience. Bob as so passed away from suicide which caused years and pain for his family. After Isabell’s passing Willie J and Aaron Emig asked me to join them at a local bar and grill where we decided to write a song in honour of Isabell. This is when I introduce my abilities to both of them. I am able to connect with Isabell in a way that can help others. Isabell helped Willie J write her song. She continues to guide us on our journey to help the youth. The song, ” Isabell ” was born the next weekend.
Thank you to all your listeners to hear about our story of Isabell Suria and our foundation From Pain Comes Strength. Also a big thanks to Self Discovery Media Community for an amazing platform to spread our mission of helping our youth. I am honoured to have had the privilege of speaking with you this afternoon. So again, thank you -and remember — From Pain Comes Strength.
Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Kevin Briggs, on air from December 20th
Tis the Season to be Jolly, but also the Season that so many people make attempts to take their own lives. Kevin Briggs, a retired California Highway Patrol Sergeant, has prevented many a soul from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge where he was a patrol cop for 23 years.
We all have mountains to climb, we all have moments when we feel despair, we all need to be heard to know that someone cares, Kevin shares how we can recognize that someone in trouble and what we can do to help them through it.
Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol officer who spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread – individuals who had lost hope and could see no way out of their current situation – ready to jump off the bridge to what they assumed was a sudden death and ending of their pain and hopelessness.
Briggs, through his compassion, gentle voice, eye contact, and his innate ability of “listening to understand” encouraged more than 200 individuals over his career to either not go over the bridge’s rail or come back to solid ground from where they had been standing precariously out on the chord of the bridge and start a new chapter in their life. These challenging, but rewarding efforts earned him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge.” After a 23-year career with the California Highway Patrol, Briggs retired to dedicate his life to promoting mental health awareness across the globe through Pivotal Points, an organization he founded to help Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills.
TUNE IN HERE FOR ON-DEMAND LISTENING AND HELP PREVENT A LOSS OF LIFE
Briggs speaks publicly about not having the right kind of professional training to effectively assist persons in crisis when he first began work as a patrol officer. Throughout his career, he reached out to senior officers who had been in the trenches, asking for their guidance – how to approach an individual in crisis, what to say, what not to say, the tone of voice, among many other things. He sought various professional training avenues including hostage negotiator training to continue to improve his skills and abilities. Over time and using all the things he learned, Briggs found a positive way to approach people in crisis, using listening skills he practised to find the “thread” that would encourage individuals to find hope for tomorrow and allow them to make the decision to live for another day. He is a mental health consumer himself – Briggs suffers from depression related to his highway patrol officer and work leader experiences (including a motorcycle accident in which he was severely injured), as well as losing his grandfather to suicide, and other personal and family experiences.
Today, Briggs is mapping a movement as he speaks publicly about his suicide prevention and crisis encounters with people on the bridge. He shares his “Listening to Understand” skills followed up with key active listening points for anyone to use; his personal triad for healthy living; his RELEASE model to assist anyone in crisis; his crisis plan, and his own mental health struggles while serving in the Army, as a police officer, as a cancer survivor, as a family member and father, and as a leader and co-worker. Briggs spends the majority of his time speaking at training events, conferences, advocacy events and walks for mental / physical / behavioral health, college and university, first responder, law enforcement (including FBI), military, AFSP, NAMI, corporations, and other venues.
In 2015, Briggs had the privilege of working across Australia with law enforcement, mental health organizations, and Mates in Construction, which works to reduce suicide in the Australian construction industry. During his time there, he conducted 22 presentations focused on suicide prevention and crisis management.
In 2016, Briggs had the privilege of Keynote and Workshop Presenter in Aachen, Germany at the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES) Conference. IFOTES offers emotional support, immediately accessible to any person suffering from loneliness, in a state of psychological crisis, or contemplating suicide by telephone, mail or chat services. At the time, there were 31 Federations from 23 countries as a member of IFOTES, working with about 22,000 voluntary workers and 1,000 professionals in the member countries.
As an international Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills presenter, Sergeant Kevin Briggs’ story and lived experiences have been featured at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design 2014 Conference as a TEDTalk, Ciudad de Las Ideas (Mexico), Yahoo News, The New Yorker Magazine, Men’s Health Magazine, NPR’s Bob Edwards Radio Show, People Magazine, USA Today, as well as other magazines, newspapers, radio, and podcasts across the world. His first book, Guardian of the Golden Gate: Protecting the Line Between Hope and Despair, was released in July 2015.
In honor of his work, Briggs has received several awards:
2016 recipient of the National Council for Behavioral Health Visionary Leadership Award
2015 recipient of the joint American Psychiatric Association and California Psychiatric Association Warren Williams Award
2015 recipient of the Matthew Silverman Memorial Foundation Matt’s Hero Award
2013 recipient of the ASIS International Outstanding Officer Award
2013 Harvey’s Heroes Award (Steve Harvey Show)
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Public Service Award
California State Senate Resolution for Public Service
Bay Area Jefferson Award for Public Service
Heroes Award, given by the Northern California Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International
2004 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Outstanding Service Award
Kevin is also a member of Bravo748 helping veterans find their way back into a productive meaningful life.
Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol officer who spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread – individuals who had lost hope and could see no way out of their current situation – ready to jump off the bridge to what they assumed was a sudden death and ending of their pain and hopelessness.
In 2016, Briggs had the privilege of Keynote and Workshop Presenter in Aachen, Germany at the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES) Conference. IFOTES offers emotional support, immediately accessible to any person suffering from loneliness, in a state of psychological crisis, or contemplating suicide by telephone, mail or chat services. At the time, there were 31 Federations from 23 countries as a member of IFOTES, working with about 22,000 voluntary workers and 1,000 professionals in the member countries.
Kevin is also a member of
You must be logged in to post a comment.