Suicide doesn’t follow a calendar. Neither do we

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Elaine @TheDarkPollyanna: Hello there.

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It's Elaine Lindsay.

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This is Suicide Zen Forgiveness,

and we're starting the podcast

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off a little different today.

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I want to play for you the new

song I wrote the lyrics to because

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I'm starting a campaign literally.

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Tomorrow, the 1st of October.

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The campaign is all about making

us be clear from month to month,

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all year long that we want to

end all preventable suicide.

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I don't wanna pussyfoot around anymore.

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I just wanna come out and say it.

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I'm known as the Dark

Pollyanna for a reason.

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I'm what they call finely tin chaos

with a boatload of compassion, and

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I'm really tired of losing people.

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I want us to make the

conversation about suicide.

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Readily available to all.

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I want people to know that

you matter, that someone will

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listen wherever you may be.

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That you are not a burden,

that you're here for a reason,

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and however we have to do that, how many

times a day we have to talk about it.

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How many times we have to work on removing

the stigma, the silence, and the shame?

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We are just gonna do that.

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So hopefully get yourself a cup of

tea or coffee or whatever your drink

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of choice is and have a listen.

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It'll start with the song.

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It'll end with the song.

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I hope you.

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Find it enjoyable.

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At least I hope you find the tune catchy

enough that you find yourself humming it,

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and in the middle there's a

presentation that should give you an

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idea of what I think we can do on an

ongoing basis to make this 24 7 365.

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Let's get on with the show.

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Theme Song: The shame.

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A check in, check back, say their name,

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share the

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lifelines.

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Let

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for let love.

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Grow

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every day, every night we keep home alive.

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Not

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a moment.

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It's.

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Elaine @TheDarkPollyanna: Do this.

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This is a presentation about

prevention and awareness, 24 7 365.

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I wanna keep hope alive.

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What do I mean by that?

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And what exactly is this?

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We all know that September is World

Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.

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Let's extend that to 24 7 365.

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I want us to have a year round

approach to suicide awareness and

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prevention and community care because

quite frankly, suicide doesn't follow

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a calendar and neither should we.

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I believe suicide prevention.

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It's not a moment, it's a movement.

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Why this matters.

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Suicide doesn't wait for September.

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Lives are lost every day.

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The USA has one death every 11 minutes.

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In Canada, it's 12 per day.

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Uk, which includes England,

Wales, Scotland, and the Republic

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of Ireland is 10 per day.

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Northern Ireland is one every two days.

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Now most suicides are preventable.

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Yet we need consistency

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about this mission.

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I wanna keep suicide

awareness alive all year long.

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I wanna support prevention

in every moment, not only in

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crisis, but every single moment.

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I wanna offer simple actions people

can actually do again and again.

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Let's start with number one.

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Number one is to speak it.

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To shift it.

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That means break the

silence, break the shame

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name, suicidal thoughts out

loud, share real messy stories,

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not only happy endings.

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Give permission to be

honest without judgment.

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Sustain public education and

de-stigmatization campaigns.

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Let's use schools, workplaces,

social media, year round to talk

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about mental health, emotional

literacy, signs of distress.

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Make talking about

suicidal thoughts, safe.

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Show that asking for help is strength

and spotlight under discussed groups.

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For example, many middle age LGBTQ

plus our indigenous communities.

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We do that so the message

reaches where it's needed most.

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I suggest action items every month that

we can implement, like permission slips.

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It's okay to not be okay, or you

can ask for help more than once.

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All of these things can

be helpful in number two.

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I wanna check in and check back.

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That means asking if somebody's

okay and asking again.

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You are not sure if you're

worried about someone you stay

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longer than is comfortable.

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One check-in just often isn't enough.

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You wanna be consistent even when it's

hard or awkward, and learn to listen

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without trying to fix, restrict the

means and provide safe environments.

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For all of us, reduce access to

lethal means firearm safety, safe

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prescribing barriers at jump sites.

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All of these have proven useful.

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You wanna ensure

protocols in institutions.

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That's jails, schools, hospital.

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This is for safeguarding suicidal people.

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We wanna promote safe messaging in

media to avoid copycat incidents.

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And for this, the action item can

be weekly prompts to reach out

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to somebody new with a check-in.

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Number three is sharing the lifelines.

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People can't call the number if they

don't know it exists, and there are still

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an awful lot of people who don't know.

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You wanna post the hotlines and

chat and text support monthly.

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Explain what actually happens when you

call to take the fear out for some people.

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And our action item for number

three is to save this number.

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Start a campaign on your socials.

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Make a point of helping out.

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Number four, we wanna make

space for the heavy duty.

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Turn your platforms

into safe landing zones.

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We have to let people be

messy, honest, broken.

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We wanna create space for forums,

for chats, for storytelling nights.

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And our action item for this can

be a monthly anonymous question

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box, or even an open mic.

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Brings us to number five.

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Remember and stay loud about it.

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Say their names, tell their stories.

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Let them be seen.

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Grief is activism.

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Memorial can be living and

loud, not just quiet and sad.

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And the action item here, and this

one is very near and dear to my heart.

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I am launching a wall of the remembered

on the suicide and forgiveness site.

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I hope that you will support it and

make a point of bringing the names.

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And any comments you wanna add to

the wall so that we can be sure that

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all your people are also remembered.

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I envision us going basically month to

month, but we may not have something

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every single month in October.

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My theme for October is what now?

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The message is awareness month

is over, but the need isn't.

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We can share stories, stats, and

survivor messages, and continue in

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a call to action to encourage people

to save and share crisis lines.

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We wanna promote Postvention

resources for those who are grieving.

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That takes us to December.

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December and the holiday shadows.

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I think the theme for December

is important, and it's

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that you are not a burden.

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Our message can be that loneliness, which

spikes during the holidays is really

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something that we all have to consider.

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Grief and pressure are very high,

and the action for us to take

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is to share gentle messages.

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For those that are struggling, like

with seasonal depression, we can

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each partner with local supports for

food banks, warmth lines, check-ins.

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There are so many ways

that we can get involved.

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We can help.

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And that brings me to my next

suggestion is February, which is

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Mental Health and Kindness Month.

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And our theme there could be

love Someone enough to Ask.

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And our message is asking,

are you okay Matters.

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Asking again matters more.

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The action is to share graphics

about how to ask, how to hold

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space, and how to listen to

people without trying to fix them.

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We can partner with schools,

workplaces, and any of the programs

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to help run kindness campaigns.

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It can be very lonely

and cold in the middle.

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That'll take us to our next outreach.

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I'm suggesting May, which is

Mental Health Awareness Month.

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The theme there would be

silence breakers and the message

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de-stigmatize the conversation.

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Talk about suicidal ideation,

not just the sanitized surface.

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Our action would be shared,

lived, experienced stories.

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Always with consent.

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We could host panel discussions,

safe storytelling spaces, and

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even art and poetry events.

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There are so many things we can

do to keep suicide prevention and

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awareness uppermost in everyone's mind.

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In July Survivor Spotlight.

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I think it's important that we have a

month with a theme of the ones who stayed.

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Our message will be to amplify

the voices of those who have

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lived through suicidal episodes.

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Those like me who live with suicidal

ideation, and our action can be to share.

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I'm still here because.

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These are messages from all of those

who got very close to the edge, but

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are still with us, and we wanna provide

resources for relapse prevention,

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peer support, and long-term healing.

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September brings us right back to

suicide prevention and awareness Month.

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The theme, this is not a trend.

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This isn't for clout or

a one month campaign.

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This is lives.

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We're going to make a point in our

actions of launching biggest wave of

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content and outreach in that month

because everybody knows that September is

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suicide Awareness and prevention month.

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We're gonna bring everything full circle.

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Reiterate, support, community resistance,

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but we're not going to stop there.

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Let's talk about how

this works over the year.

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We're gonna start small.

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We're gonna stay steady.

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We don't have to do it all, but

doing something again and again.

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Can save a life.

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This isn't about perfection, it's

about persistence, and it may be

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that one of the things I suggested

is something you are really good at.

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So just continue to do that.

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Even if you did that every

single month, that gives you

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the opportunity to offer hope.

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Save lives.

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It's about being a light, someone can

follow back from their dark, and I

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know I've packed an absolute ton into

this presentation, but I just couldn't

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let another World Suicide Prevention

and Wearness month go by without this

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petition, if you will, to extend it.

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24 7 365.

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We are still here.

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We are still reaching because we don't

want a world with fewer broken people.

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We want a world where broken people are

still held, and that's because you matter.

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Definitely matter to me.

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I will have connection and

resources down below the video.

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You can follow and subscribe, or

perhaps you'd like to collaborate

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on one of our initiatives.

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The contact information will all

be there, and I will have links to

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lifelines and resources for you to find.

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They'll all be down below the video.

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Should you have any questions or wanna

get in touch, you can send an email

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to get help@thedarkpollyanna.com.

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Do you wanna join me in this movement?

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I say thank you either way.

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Thank you for listening.

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Join the movement if you can.

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September, world Suicide

Prevention and Wearness Month.

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Ends today, Tuesday, the

th of September,: 2025

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Let's extend all the wonderful work we've

done this month and extend it to 24 7 365.

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Let's end preventable suicide.

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Theme Song: Speak it shifted break.

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There's.

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Shame

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a check in.

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Check back, say their name.

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Speaker 3: Share Lifelines.

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Let

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for Let Love.

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Grow

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Speaker 4: every day, every

night we keep home alive.

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Speaker 5: Not a moment.

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It's moment.