I lost a cousin to suicide.... he was a senior in High School... he took his favorite antique pistol (he was a collector) and went to his grandparents old home site and put the barrel in his chest and ended his short life. Like Elisabeth he was funny and fun loving he was not the best student but he was loved by everyone. I have struggled all my life even though I was much younger than he with what if.... What if I had seen the signs..... Could I have stopped him.... Could I have gotten him help.... What if .... we who are left behind live with that question everyday... Who would he be today... what would his kids look like.... All I have is photos and memories.... of a life ended too soon.... Please take to heart what you read here today! Read and study the signs of suicide so that you maybe one day might make the life saving call and will not ever have to live a life of what ifs!Clinton mom uses daughter's suicide to educate othersBy Ruth Ingram
ringram@clintonnews.comSUICIDE SIGNSExperts at the Jason Foundation say parents and family members should be aware of the following signs of concern that may come from a teen contemplating suicide:
1)Talking about suicide, including verbal hints with statements such as "I won't be a problem for you much longer," "nothing matters," it's no use" or "I won't see you again."
Making statements about feeling sad, hopeless, helpless or worthless.
2)Deepening depression or change in eating/sleeping habits.
3)Preoccupation with death.
4)Taking unnecessary risks or exhibiting self-destructive behavior.
5)Out-of-character behavior; violent actions, rebellious behavior, running away, drug/alcohol use.
6)A loss of interest in the things one cares about.
7)Becoming suddenly cheerful after a period of depression
8)Making arrangements, setting one's affairs in order, giving away prized possessions.
9)Frequent complaints about physical symptoms often related to emotions, such as stomachaches, headaches, fatigue.The Jason Foundation, founded in response to the suicide of Jason Flatt at age 16 in 1997, has established a national toll-free hotline for anyone considering suicide or friends or family who need help in intervening with someone who is showing signs of suicide. For help, call 1-800-SUICIDE, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Source: The Jason Foundation, www.jasonfoundation.com; American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, www.aacap.org.On a quiet evening in June before the 10 o'clock news rolled around, 15-year-old Elisabeth Mosley kissed her mom and went upstairs for the night.
Alone in her bedroom, no more than an hour later, Elisabeth took her own life.
If she had known June 13 what she knows now, Teresa Mosley wonders, if she and others in Elisabeth's life had been more educated about the warning signs that a child is considering suicide, would Elisabeth be alive today?In the case of Elisabeth, a smart and creative child who was being treated by a physician for depression and anxiety, there's no way to know.
TEEN SUICIDE PROGRAMA seminar by the Tennessee-based Jason Foundation on teen suicide prevention will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 at Clinton High School.The Junior Auxiliary of Clinton is sponsoring the event.Among facts, some little known, about teen suicide as researched by the Jason Foundation:
Suicide ranks as the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15-24 and fourth in ages 10-14.
Nationally, every 117 minutes, a young person under age 25 commits suicide.
Four out of five young people who attempt suicide give clear warnings before they do.
But what Mosley does know is that parents must take it upon themselves to gain the knowledge that could save a child's life.
"If you're not equipped with the tools to recognize that your child is sick, then there might be a very bad outcome," she said.
Mosley said she hopes community parents will attend a seminar on Sept. 11 at Clinton High School presented by the Tennessee-based Jason Foundation. The program by the teen suicide prevention group, founded in the wake of the 1997 suicide of Tennessee youth Jason Flatt at age 16, is being sponsored by the Junior Auxiliary of Clinton.
"By no means do we need to be afraid to talk about this," Mosley said. "We must, as parents, not have the attitude that this can't happen in my house, because I didn't think it would happen in my house."
Mosley is immediate past president of Junior Auxiliary, a nonprofit devoted to improving the lives of children and families. Elisabeth, who would have been a Clinton High sophomore this fall, was a new member of the Crown Club, JA's service and leadership organization for teen girls in grades 10 to 12.
Said Shea Hutchins, a JA member and director of clinical services at The CARES Center in Jackson: "I work with children and youth every day with emotional and behavioral problems. That's why it's so important to me, as a mental health professional, to bring this knowledge and resources to my community.
"Suicide has impacted my friend and my family, and something must be done to stop it."
INNER STRUGGLE
Say the name Elisabeth Mosley to her peers and teachers, and the vision of a multitalented child pops up: Practical joker who drew caricatures of teachers and principals and kept her classmates in stitches.
Gifted student and budding videographer who, just the week before her death, was a hard-working and empathetic volunteer at Eastside Elementary's Camp Invention.
Cross-country track runner. Fan of the Clinton Community Nature Center. And gentle friend of animals and reptiles - be it a snake, a chinchilla or a homeless pet befriended at the Bow Wow Run, a fundraiser for Community Animal Rescue and Adoption.
"She was the most unprejudiced person I knew," said her mother, who with husband Ken also is parent to Emily Mosley, a student at Eastside. "She was loyal to her friends and had a wonderful sense of humor."
And Elisabeth, like many teens both diagnosed and undiagnosed, battled depression and anxiety.
"It's easy for us to accept illnesses like cancer and diabetes that have a medical basis," Mosley said. "But depression and anxiety - that's a form of mental illness that's as critical as cancer."
Most people, Hutchins said, "don't want to talk about depression or mental illness because of the stigma it holds."
"If someone suffers from mental illness, people sometimes think it's because of a breakdown in the family. That is wrong," Mosley said.
Mosley has learned - and hopes other parents will take note - that even the brightest, most outgoing, most "normal" kids have emotional issues that can go far beyond those written off by many as a child "just being a teenager."
Mosley said she fears that too many people think this can't happen in their towns or to their children.
"But it affects every group, every race, every socioeconomic level, whether we want to believe it or not," she said. "We have a lot of kids in our community who are like Elisabeth was. But at age 15 or 16, they don't have the foresight to know that life is going to get better. They think that if they are miserable now, they will be that way for the rest of their lives."
By nature, teens are moody, Hutchens said. "But when you notice a change in behavior that persists over weeks, then the parents should do some investigation with their teen and perhaps with teachers and friends."
After Elisabeth died, Mosley said, she got on the Internet.
"I realized from my research that she had probably made the decision to do this," she said. "She was happy. She had made contact with friends she hadn't seen in a long time.
"I thought maybe she'd grown up a little bit. As summer began, she seemed to be doing so much better. But in reality, she was getting her affairs in order."
