After losing 3 family members to suicide, Georgia man becomes a prevention advocate

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A Georgia man is proving that change can happen at any point in our lives and bring new purpose with it. Years after he lost three family members, he became an advocate for suicide prevention. Now, he is working to change the conversation around suicide.

To some, loss has a way of changing our perspective of the world.

“My dad died in 1969, a few days before my 7th birthday,” Jim Ford, representing the Crisis Text Line and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said.

For many, grief can take people wherever it chooses. Some eventually start finding a way to mold their grief into something new.

“I lost my dad to suicide. I lost two cousins. He died at the age of 15, the other cousin died in her early twenties,” said Ford. “Even though the loss I experienced was many years ago, I just felt like the time was right.”

Ford chose advocacy.

“I really felt like the Lord put it on my heart to help people who were struggling,” said Ford.

There was so much stigma around suicide that Ford, at a young age, started lying about the way his father died — saying his dad died of a heart attack. He kept that in mind when he started working to prevent suicides in the US, breaking stigma was part of the mission.

“We need more kindness and less judgment. We are very quick to judge, and we don’t know what is in somebody’s heart,” said Ford.

There is change that comes along with Ford’s years of volunteer work with the Crisis Text Line and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention but there is also change, that comes in small, genuine gestures.

“You can tell it was a young person who left it in the mailbox. It says, ‘I have been struggling so bad lately and wondering if it is even worth living anymore. Just wanted you to know that your signs are the message I needed right now. They made me cry good tears. Thank you. I hope your life is full of love and happiness,’” said Ford, reading an anonymous letter left in his mailbox.

Ford will be at this year’s Atlanta Out of the Darkness Walk. It is a free event where anyone touched by suicide can come and support each other, tell stories, honor the people they lost, celebrate the people still here, work to keep making change, break stigma and remember they aren’t alone.

“So many people are in crisis, dealing with depression and mental illness,” said Ford, “It is okay not to be okay but help is available 24/7.”

Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.