Sunday, March 10, 2019 9:00 pm EDT

@lifesnewnormal, @BeyondKeto & @Lenaschatz

Self-care after a suicidal crisis

A writer and editor, a professor who transitioned from an academic setting to the world of suicide prevention, a mental health advocate and licensed acupuncturist. Survivors of suicide loss, each has been on a mission, searching for a self-care approach that works for them.

Join us Sunday evening at 9:00 pm EDT as Lauren Carter, Lena Heilmann and Stephanie Willard come together to share their stories and respective journeys to self-care that wrap around health, wellness and personal development, to understanding the importance of sleep hygiene to support mental, physical and emotional health, to alternative care such as Oriental Medicine and clinical aroma-therapy. Each quest was motivated by the loss of a loves to suicide, and in Stephanie’s life, a murder-suicide, but what they’ve learned may be helpful to others.

You can follow The SPSMCHAT 2.0 Reboot! “Self-care after a suicidal crisis” at 9pm EDT on Twitter and/or via a simultaneous YouTube Live Streaming link.

Lauren Carter

Lauren Carter is a writer and editor with a background in journalism and PR. Her work has appeared in newspapers, digital publications, national magazines and anthologies, and she has developed strategic communications for business and higher education leaders.

She became passionate about self-care after struggling with depression for more than 20 years and then losing her mother to suicide in 2010. Desperate for change and recovery, she did extensive research on health, wellness and personal development and ultimately created a daily wellness program that helped her to overcome depression and transform her mindset and her life.

More info on her program is available at beyondketo.wordpress.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @BeyondKeto.

Lena Heilmann

Lena Heilmann lost her sister Danielle to suicide in 2012. In response to the grief caused by this traumatic loss and as a way to honor her sister, Lena transitioned from her role as a college professor to the world of suicide prevention.

Now working in youth suicide prevention in Colorado, Lena incorporates her lived experience and expertise, which centers on her identity as a survivor of suicide loss, with her professional career and with her personal mission. Lena is passionate about understanding sleep as a social justice issue and the importance of sleep hygiene to support mental, physical, and emotional health.

Stephanie Willard

Stephanie Willard is a mental health advocate, story teller, as well as a licensed acupuncturist, Oriental Medicine practitioner, and clinical aroma-therapist. She has been in private practice for nineteen years in Oregon.

On May 8, 2014, she came home to find that her husband had killed their four-year-old daughter and then himself.  She has spoken about her experience at the National Association of Grieving Children’s 2015 and 2018 conferences, the 2015 Portraits of Courage Luncheon for the Dougy Center, and at the 2016, 2017 and 2018 American Association of Suicidology conferences.  She was a keynote speaker at “Life’s New Normal – The Forum” in November 2017, hosted by A Voice at the Table, and at the Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Conference in May 2018. She also created and has taught her class “Tools for Navigating the Roller Coaster of Grief,” combining her many years of alternative care knowledge and her loss experience. She is an active member of the Suicide Prevention Alliance for the state of Oregon, working on prevention and legislative changes as well as on the AAS Impacted Family & Friends Committee.

Stephanie is determined to reach people who are struggling with mental illness (suicide prevention) as well as families who have dealt with the death of a loved one from suicide (suicide bereavement) or murder-suicide.  She has been public with her lived experience and continuous grief process via her blog at www.lifesnewnormal.com and articles in “The Mighty.”. As she brings a “realness” to her readers of what her journey has been, Stephanie has touched people worldwide. She believes that people with lived experience can help educate as well as support others in suicide prevention and bereavement and strives everyday to inspire hope to others. Her story is, above all else, about resilience.