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The Review September 16, 2014
SUICIDE AWARENESS
She knows how to save a life BY CHRISTI WARREN
ROCK FALLS – There’s a senior at Rock Falls High School, a 17-year-old girl with blond hair and rectangular glasses that frame her face. She’s mature for her age, and in the way she speaks, it’s immediately apparent how intelligent and observant she is. Sensitive, too. She’s close with her mother. She has an afterschool job at The Dog House in Sterling. She thinks about her future, and what she might do when she grows up. “I kind of want to be a police officer,� she says. When she was 10, her father died – his life cut short by suicide. It’s an event that shaped Ciara Dickson’s interests and the trajectory her life has taken. She’s now an advocate for suicide awareness. It’s a cause she’s pas-
sionate about, and something she doesn’t shy away from talking about, although not really a topic she broaches with her friends. It makes them uncomfortable, especially because they know about her dad. But, she says, that’s just the problem. Suicide and the mental illnesses that lead to a person’s decision to take his own life shouldn’t be a closeddoor discussion. Education is the key to opening that door, experts say, and it’s what needs to happen to people in the Sauk Valley, even for those as young as middle-schoolers. But it isn’t. “A lot of people I know are scared about teaching kids about suicide because they don’t want it to be an option,� Ciara says. “But you’re not making it an option; you’re just saying what could happen. I know a lot of people feel like you’re opening that door, but you’re really not; you’re just making it more known.� What happened to her dad, and the downward
spiral that preceded his death, sparked in Ciara a curiosity about what sets people down the road that leads to suicide, how they get there, and what can be done to stop it. “I started researching it in eighth grade,� she says. “I did a paper on it, and then I did another one freshman year, so I’ve been into it for a while, just trying to figure it all out.� As a freshman, she got the chance to attend a SuicideTALK training session through Building Lasting Impressions that Never Die, or B.L.I.N.D., a student group. That’s how she got to know Cheryl Robinson and Jeff Hippen, who both lost children to suicide. Together, Cheryl and Jeff train people in suicide awareness and prevention through LivingWorks, a group that provides tools to help community members catch warning signs early on. In the past, Cheryl has likened the idea behind the classes to the training of lifeguards. The more people around who know how to save your life
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when it looks like you’re starting to drown, the better chance you have to survive. Ciara has now been to the SuicideTALK training twice, as a freshman and a sophomore. As a junior, Alex T. Paschal she attended a 2-day After losing her father at age 10 to suicide, Rock Falls Applied Suicide Interven- High School senior Ciara Dickson began promoting tion Skills Training work- suicide awareness. shop. The most intense training that Cheryl and Help is available ... on A5 Jeff offer, ASIST includes s 7ARNING SIGNS TO LOOK FOR the basics, such as notics #ONTACT INFO FOR PREVENTION TRAINING ing warning signs, but s #OMMUNITY FUNDRAISER UPCOMING goes a step further. At ASIST training, students act out real-life scenarios. them, try to ask them me what’s going on.’ ... One might be asked, as questions, make them Just walk up to them, Ciara was, to help a per- feel like somebody’s approach them really son who has threatened there,� she says. “You nicely. ... You can’t be know, like, ‘I’m here if aggressive.� to jump from a bridge. “You just try to talk to you need to talk. Tell LIFE CONTINUED ON 2
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