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COVER STORY LISA AND DAVID CRAIG
LISA AND DAVID CRAIG
You never get over it, but you can get through it After losing a child to suicide, Lisa and David Craig turn to raising awareness for teenage mental health By Emma Vallelunga
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isa and David Craig are the parents who did everything they could. Their daughter Corey couldn’t see a world with herself in it anymore. Instead of telling her own story, her parents have vowed to tell it for her. What began as a tragedy about mental health, miscommunication and grief has become a long road to recovery and advocacy for better resources against the illness that took their only child too soon. Corey was a junior at Bishop Ludden High School when she died by suicide in 2006. She was 16. Although she was friendly, out-going and energetic, Corey struggled with depression and anxiety. Her parents had difficulty finding her the help she needed. There were limited mental health resources for teens and their families 14 years ago — few practitioners, long wait lists and little time. At one point, Corey’s health seemed to improve with antidepressants, therapy and exercise. She began socializing, doing better in school and thinking about college. But Corey didn’t tell them what was really going on inside her head. She confided in her friends that she was contemplating suicide, and her parents had no idea. “If I knew she had said these things, maybe her treatment would have taken a different path,” Lisa said. “I don’t blame her friends for what happened. She put warning signs out there to the people she trusted the most. They just didn’t understand what was happening.” Continued on page 18
August 2020
Recovery Edition
