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Speaker talks about youth suicide
BOARDMAN
The advancement of technology and social media has made it more difficult than ever to be a young person.
So says Doug Merrill, a guest speaker who talked to educators, parents and mental-health workers Friday during a workshop geared toward curbing youth suicide and bullying.
Merrill’s workshop, “In The Face of Adversity,” was at Antone’s Banquet Centre, Market Street. Event sponsors were PNC Bank, The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, the Mahoning County Mental Health Board, Help Hotline Crisis Center and Potential Development Program.
Things have changed so much in the last 20 years, he said, explaining that the Internet, MySpace, Facebook, texting and camera phones have made us more connected in good ways and bad.
“You make a mistake today, and it’s all over the world,” he said, noting that kids can make pictures, stories and rumors widespread at the click of a button. “This is one of the largest battles we face right now as parents and as adults.”
Merrill touched on stories from his 2008 book, “Fighting the Demon of Suicide,” based on eight of his friends who took their lives. The former Bowling Green High School teacher and coach discussed how those events shaped his life.
A friend of Merrill’s killed himself in high school, and little more than a week later, Merrill’s former girlfriend followed suit.
“Anger and sadness are just two of the emotions I went through that day,” Merrill said. These feelings kept him from going to her funeral, and he vowed not to visit her grave. But fate had other plans for Merrill.
There were other suicides happening around him, and a car accident in 1991 claimed the lives of four of his students. He said he began to question his own life and became depressed.
Merrill said he wrote a suicide note, walked over to a cliff and talked to a man, though he doesn’t remember the conversation. He decided against suicide but went to a cemetery to think, when fate stepped in.
He was walking and tripped over a grave. He looked down and was amazed to see it belonged to his former girlfriend. He said he thought she was buried in another part of town.
“I decided that as long as I am [alive], I will do the very best I can,” he said. “She saved my life that day.”
Merrill turned to physical fitness and believes this helped him overcome depression, giving him a sense of hope and accomplishment.
Last October, Merrill set out on a 1,921-mile run from Boston to Key West, Fla., and finished in April.
Somewhere between Philadelphia and Maryland, Merrill sprained his foot badly and was told by doctors he couldn’t go on. He hobbled on crutches along his route for a few days until he was able to run again and said the experience taught him that “with adversity, there is perseverance.”
Merrill, father to an autistic child, choked up when talking about recent high-profile cases where young people have been bullied and then committed suicide.
He said he believes teen suicide has a stigma that keeps people from talking about it.
Kathleen Shannon, a social worker for Comprehensive Psychiatry in Youngstown, said her life also has been touched by the suicide of friends. Bullying and suicide among youths is a prevalent issue in her practice, which focuses on children.
In a typical week, half of Shannon’s caseload is made up of children who have contemplated or attempted suicide, she said.
Rachel Wood of North Jackson and her friend, Chrysann Mitzel, a clinical counselor in Boardman, were to speak after Merrill as part of a panel on suicide. Both women have daughters who tried to take their own lives when they were younger.
The two are part of a support group for parents of children with any mental or physical disability. They said early intervention is key when dealing with a depressed young person.
The group, Federation of Families, meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at D&E Counseling, Javit Court, Austintown.
Helping kids attain physical, mental and emotional balance will help combat the problems of bullying and suicide, Merrill said. The Toledo native has put his words into action.
He is founder and president of Power UP, a foundation that aims to reduce instances of suicide, bullying and intolerance, while promoting improved physical fitness and academic performance for students across the country. His program is being implemented in schools, including one in Defiance, and he is working to roll out a similar plan to target elementary-age kids.
For more information, visit www.powerupfoundation.com.