By: Jarely Cabading
According to [Suicide Statistics] “On average, there are 123 suicides per day. Men die by suicide 3.53 times more than women.”
Aliyah Marie is a 16-year-old suicide survivor that went through a tough time in her life, throughout the years of 2016-2018. According to the [Suicide Statistics] between those years, “there have been 47,173 Americans that died by suicide.”
She went through a tough time with her family. They didn’t have an official stable home and her dad wasn’t mentally there for her. “My dad would go out during the day and come back when everyone is already asleep,” Aliyah said. She really wished her dad was always home and comforting her on her worst days.
In middle school, she fell in love with another girl named Adriana. Adriana made a really big impact in her life but at times there would be a tough situation between them. “We always have arguments but the love I have for her never goes away,” Aliyah said. Aliyah showed Adriana tons of love but Adriana wouldn’t show the same energy towards her. It had Aliyah wonder ‘why?’ and question herself at night. Aliyah was always scared of losing her, and although they did lose each other multiple times, they would always bounce back. For her, she thought relationships were one of the main things to get through life.
Aliyah also went through a phase of being concerned about her weight. “I would always see these girls with the perfect body and ask myself why can’t I look like that.” Aliyah slowly started to work on her diet when her life was getting to the way she wanted it to.
Aliyah went through a tough time with family, relationships, and health problems. Those problems hit her at the same time in the same year. She was so stressed having to deal with all of those issues, she was just over it and ended up having suicidal thoughts and would feel the urge to cut her wrist open.
She never really asked anyone for help. “I always thought the family problems would be a lifetime thing and I would just have to deal with it.”
According to Jen Pastran, a social worker at Yerba Buena High School, she says “there would be five people per month that go to me and talk about their issues.”
Tons of teens struggle at this age. According to Pastran, going from a teen to an adult is very challenging: “I think since they are transitioning to adulthood they don’t get much freedom yet they want it. Emotions are very intense at this age especially love and anger.”
There are a ton of resources that help you and your situations. It all depends if you have thoughts versus the thoughts with a plan ready. “If its thoughts I will unpack the thoughts and if it’s severe depression I will refer out to another agency, someone who is more professional with this kind of situation,” Pastran says.
Aliyah was starting to see a second chance and see that life can get better. “My family and I would stay away from all the negativity, I would think about positivity and only let positive people in my life”
She got her mom that helped her learn a lot now that she got herself out of these suicidal thoughts and plans. She learned that everything can get better. “I know everything is temporary, pain doesn’t last forever and the pain can only make you stronger,” Aliyah thinks all the things happening in her life happened for a reason, it helped her mature and helped her realize some things weren’t meant to be depressed about.
Aliyah has many suggestions for people who are having suicidal thoughts: “Cut every negative thing in your life that can get in the way with your issues, hang out with your loved ones, always have positive thoughts and know life isn’t worth taking it away and throwing it all away because problems are temporary.”
According to [Suicide Statistics] “On average, there are 123 suicides per day. Men die by suicide 3.53 times more than women.”
Aliyah Marie is a 16-year-old suicide survivor that went through a tough time in her life, throughout the years of 2016-2018. According to the [Suicide Statistics] between those years, “there have been 47,173 Americans that died by suicide.”
She went through a tough time with her family. They didn’t have an official stable home and her dad wasn’t mentally there for her. “My dad would go out during the day and come back when everyone is already asleep,” Aliyah said. She really wished her dad was always home and comforting her on her worst days.
In middle school, she fell in love with another girl named Adriana. Adriana made a really big impact in her life but at times there would be a tough situation between them. “We always have arguments but the love I have for her never goes away,” Aliyah said. Aliyah showed Adriana tons of love but Adriana wouldn’t show the same energy towards her. It had Aliyah wonder ‘why?’ and question herself at night. Aliyah was always scared of losing her, and although they did lose each other multiple times, they would always bounce back. For her, she thought relationships were one of the main things to get through life.
Aliyah also went through a phase of being concerned about her weight. “I would always see these girls with the perfect body and ask myself why can’t I look like that.” Aliyah slowly started to work on her diet when her life was getting to the way she wanted it to.
Aliyah went through a tough time with family, relationships, and health problems. Those problems hit her at the same time in the same year. She was so stressed having to deal with all of those issues, she was just over it and ended up having suicidal thoughts and would feel the urge to cut her wrist open.
She never really asked anyone for help. “I always thought the family problems would be a lifetime thing and I would just have to deal with it.”
According to Jen Pastran, a social worker at Yerba Buena High School, she says “there would be five people per month that go to me and talk about their issues.”
Tons of teens struggle at this age. According to Pastran, going from a teen to an adult is very challenging: “I think since they are transitioning to adulthood they don’t get much freedom yet they want it. Emotions are very intense at this age especially love and anger.”
There are a ton of resources that help you and your situations. It all depends if you have thoughts versus the thoughts with a plan ready. “If its thoughts I will unpack the thoughts and if it’s severe depression I will refer out to another agency, someone who is more professional with this kind of situation,” Pastran says.
Aliyah was starting to see a second chance and see that life can get better. “My family and I would stay away from all the negativity, I would think about positivity and only let positive people in my life”
She got her mom that helped her learn a lot now that she got herself out of these suicidal thoughts and plans. She learned that everything can get better. “I know everything is temporary, pain doesn’t last forever and the pain can only make you stronger,” Aliyah thinks all the things happening in her life happened for a reason, it helped her mature and helped her realize some things weren’t meant to be depressed about.
Aliyah has many suggestions for people who are having suicidal thoughts: “Cut every negative thing in your life that can get in the way with your issues, hang out with your loved ones, always have positive thoughts and know life isn’t worth taking it away and throwing it all away because problems are temporary.”