Please Ask for Help Before the Final Trigger

Some Mondays are heavier than others.

Yesterday, our community lost an 18 year old boy to suicide. I was there. I saw the shock. I saw the heartbreak. I saw parents whose lives changed in one moment. I saw kids trying to understand something no child should have to process.

There were also strong, loving LDS leaders there. People who showed up. People who prayed. People who held space. People who knew there were no perfect words, but came anyway.

Today, many hearts are broken.

And because I have lived this road, I need to say something plainly.

Please do not wait until the final trigger.

Suicide often looks like one terrible moment from the outside. One breakup. One mistake. One fight. One humiliation. One loss. One moment of panic.

But most of the time, that final moment is not the whole story.

It is the last weight added to a heart that has been carrying too much for too long.

That is why we have to get help long before the breaking point.

And today, I am not only speaking to parents, teachers, church leaders, coaches, and friends. I am speaking to the person who is struggling.

The person who always looks strong.

The person everyone else comes to for help.

The person who knows how to comfort others, but does not know how to say, “I need help too.”

If that is you, please hear me.

There is no shame in asking for help.

There is no shame in saying, “I am not okay.”

There is no shame in needing someone to sit with you while the storm passes.

One of the hardest things about suicidal thinking is that it lies. It tells you that people would be better off without you. It tells you that the pain will never change. It tells you that asking for help will hurt or disappoint the people you love.

Those thoughts can feel true, but they are not truth.

They are pain talking.

And pain needs care.

At The Wellness Center, we use red light therapy as one tool for the nervous system, the body, and emotional regulation. I am careful with my words because I would never claim that one tool solves something as complex as suicide, grief, depression, trauma, or emotional pain.

But I can say this with honesty.

I have watched people breathe again.

I have watched kids soften.

I have watched people come in carrying emotion in their body and leave with a little more room inside themselves.

Sometimes red light therapy is not about a protocol or a condition. Sometimes it is simply 20 to 30 minutes of quiet. No phone. No pressure. No one asking you to perform. Just warmth, stillness, light, and a moment to let your body stop bracing.

For some people, that matters.

For some kids, that matters.

For some exhausted parents, that matters.

And yes, I know how sensitive this is.

I would never use a tragedy to sell something.

But I will never stay quiet about something I know has helped hurting kids and hurting adults find enough calm to take the next right step.

The Wellness Center was created with suicide prevention in mind. It was created because I know what it feels like to wish there had been one more tool, one more conversation, one more moment of relief, one more doorway back to hope.

If you are a parent and your child is struggling, reach out before it becomes a crisis.

If you are a teen or young adult and you are scared of what your own thoughts are saying, reach out now.

If you are the strong one, the helper, the listener, the faithful one, the dependable one, the one who never wants to worry anyone, reach out anyway.

Contact me.

Come in for red light therapy.

Let’s sit down and do The Work of Byron Katie together. Let’s question the painful thoughts before those thoughts convince you they are permanent. Let’s give your mind and body a chance to breathe.

I will add a link below for The Work and a place to schedule.

And if you are in immediate danger, please do not wait. Call or text 988 now. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available for emotional distress, mental health crisis, and suicidal thoughts by call, text, or chat, 24 hours a day.

You matter.

Your life matters.

Your story is not over.

Please ask for help before the final trigger.