{"id":96888,"date":"2014-09-30T08:38:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T12:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=96888"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:11:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:11:33","slug":"students-speak-out-about-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/09\/students-speak-out-about-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Speak Out About Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Haddiyyah<\/a>
Haddiyyah Ali ’18 (CLAS) recalls how she was affected when a high school classmate attempted suicide, during a Student Voices Panel, part of Suicide Prevention Week, at the African American Cultural Center on Sept. 25. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At times both emotional and inspiring, the Student Voices Panel held in the African American Cultural Center last week brought the often stigmatized issue of suicide to the forefront.<\/p>\n

The event, which was part of UConn\u2019s Suicide Prevention Week, featured eight students who shared their experiences with suicide. Some had dealt with depression and their own suicidal thoughts in the past, while others told of how their lives were affected by an acquaintance, friend, or loved one thinking about, attempting, or committing suicide.<\/p>\n

The panel served as an important reminder to students that the issue affects everyone, said Erin Cox, the outreach coordinator and a psychologist at Counseling and Mental Health Services. Sharing personal stories helps people realize they are not alone and helps reduce the stigma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing to hear these stories. It\u2019s brave; it\u2019s courageous; it\u2019s beautiful to show your vulnerability and to show how these things have an impact on our life,\u201d Cox said after the students spoke. \u201cSuicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. It impacts us all. And to hear these stories helps us bring that to mind because a lot of times, it is hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Muro \u201915 (CLAS) spoke of her own experiences with depression, bulimia, and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

She stressed the importance of getting help \u2013 and of helping others get help. Muro, who transferred to UConn, discussed her experiences with counseling services while she was a student at Southern Connecticut State University, outpatient therapy, and The Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital.<\/p>\n

She recalled how a friend she met at the Institute of Living called her one night saying she had severely cut herself and was committing suicide. Muro was able to get the friend\u2019s address and call 911 to get her medical help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was right after I spent a week in a psychiatric unit for wanting to commit suicide,\u201d Muro said. \u201cFor me, that was very alarming. Like, \u2018Oh my God, this is what I put my family through.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the student speakers shared advice about what they had learned through their experiences, stressing that it can be impossible to tell what other people are going through.<\/p>\n

Haddiyyah Ali \u201918 (CLAS) said she and her classmates were shocked when a high school acquaintance attempted suicide. The boy had just been accepted to his dream college on a full scholarship, Ali said, and was known for being happy, outgoing, and fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just resonated with me, because it \u2026 opened all of our eyes to the fact that the people we know can be going through so many things that we don\u2019t know about,\u201d she said. \u201cSo just be mindful of people. When you talk to people or you\u2019re around people, don\u2019t let what you see about them or what you assume about them paint the picture for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox said the theme of this Suicide Prevention Week \u2013 Connection is Prevention \u2013 came through in the students\u2019 stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat connection piece really is the front line,\u201d Cox said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s your friends, or your roommate, or your girlfriends or boyfriends, family members \u2013 if you have that gut feeling that you\u2019re worried about them, reach out to them and help them. Ask if they\u2019re okay. Be a support. And also know that you don\u2019t have to hold this all yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s Suicide Prevention Week continues with a presentation on Oct. 1 by keynote speaker Kevin Hines, who survived jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempted suicide.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit suicideprevention.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The on-call therapist at Counseling and Mental Health Services can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when classes are in session at 860-486-4705.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. A student panel discussed how their lives had been affected by the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":96906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-96888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 07:21:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96888"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96911,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96888\/revisions\/96911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/96906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96888"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=96888"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=96888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}