Suicide Awareness September

Are you ready? Are you ready for this for real? Welcome replay viewers, because you are the only ones who pop on and get to see the very beginning of this. Everybody else is just slowly getting notifications saying, hey, did you know that Brooke is live on YouTube and Facebook? Hmm, where are you? Let me know in the comments wherever they happen to be. All right, so I was really going to record this and have it set for tomorrow night, but I'm going to try to figure out how to do something for tomorrow night. Suicide Prevention Saturday is something I've been doing since 2018. Hi DJ, I'm so impressed you're awake currently. Sorry, for those of you who don't know DJ, he's just got a really weird schedule. So anyway, Suicide Prevention Saturday has been something that I've done since 2018. Why? Because here I am, a gun owner, and I own a gun school, an instructional school. I don't know, a Great Start Shooting school. That's where we are. So in honor of Suicide Prevention September— wow, see, it's gonna be a little hard for me to catch there— Suicide Prevention September, I have gotten gifts in the mail from one— I'll talk about the Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board. They said, dear firearm retailer, which I am not a firearm retailer, I am just a school, but they get us confused because I'm part of NSSF, which we're going to talk about next. So they're talking about firearm-related suicides. They give me a whole bunch of little virtual questions on the QPR, question, per— the question, persuade— I can read, I swear to goodness— and refer. QPR, where are you when I need you? And they've got links in here. Preventsuicide.org/materials. There's 3 schedules— 3 scheduled meetings where you can ask more information on QPR, which I will put in the description depending Facebook or YouTube. And one is on 9/7, one is 9/12, and one is 9/21. And they've got all different times: 9:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 7:30 PM. So for all of you who've listened to me talk about QPR even though I always mess up question, persuade, refer. This is a way for you to find out about it. So this was the little welcome letter, but what else did they give me? They gave me more stuff. Veterans Crisis, let's see, hold it up so you can read it, right? Veterans Crisis Line. And I hope that's right side up versus backwards for you guys. Recognize the signs of suicide risk: thinking about hurting yourself, looking for ways to kill yourself, talking about death, dying, or suicide, self-destructive behavior such as drug abuse, weapons, etc. Thank you very much for that, DJ. Oh, for those of you not playing on the YouTube side of things, uh, here is the preventsuicidect.org. Um, So they sent me this veterans crisis slide, and here's one thing that I always forget to talk about is the signs of suicide risk, right? Hopelessness, anxiety, feeling like there's no reason to live, rage or anger. Because we know that suicide is a problem, but a lot of people don't even realize what some of the personal things that you could be doing— and I'm not trying to say, oh, you might be suicidal, But at the same time, you may not realize that the things you're doing, like withdrawing from friends and family. So this was one of the cards they gave me. Now there's more. They gave me a sticker, or sorry, it's not a sticker. It's one of these things. It's a magnet. There we go. Oh my goodness. So anyway, so this is something we talk about often is 2-1-1. Right? For help, dial 211. Now, we've also talked about this, which I don't know if they just made these before this all happened, but we now have the 811, right? For ways to do stuff. And in Connecticut, I don't know if you're going to be able to read all that, but text Connecticut. Yeah, I can't think. Can I get it? Oh, there it is. There you go. 741741 for crisis support, because remember, 211 does all sorts of stuff. Um, they do not just, um, help with counseling, so that's why there's two different ones. So they gave me the handy-dandy magnet and more stuff. So this is kind of like Christmas for me. Um, who knew suicide prevention was going to be a Christmas present? But it kind of is because it's kind of cool. So that little, the magnet I just showed you there, we now have a much larger foldout that they gave me as well. What is the problem? In Connecticut, suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students and the third leading cause of death for kids 10 to 17. Remember how we've talked about suicide affects all of us? Well, our teens and our college kids It's absolutely horrendous. Risk factors, they kind of talk about this: alcohol, past suicide attempts, traumatic loss. Warning signs: someone threatened to hurt themselves, hopelessness, rage, anger. I don't know about you, but I kind of see that all over the place currently. We've got lots of mental health challenges. It doesn't mean that you have one or two of these things, that you're not just pissed off about something, because goodness knows there's enough of that. Sources, people you can talk to, family member, friends. I know I get some of those phone calls. Faith-based support, teachers, coaches, school counselor, mental health clinician, employee assistance program, emergency room. And what else do we have? Let's see, that was, see, I didn't, can you tell I didn't practice this? I'm just literally pulling this stuff out of the box. And then the solution, be direct, be willing to listen, Be non-judgmental. There's a hard one, you know. So like if I was coming to you for counseling and I said, oh well, you know, I think I'm ready to kill myself, you said, but Brooke, you have so much to live for. Honest to goodness, I know you don't realize it, but that's the judgmental thing they're trying to tell you not to do. Because just because things look good on the outside does not mean they are good on the inside. Don't dare him or her to do it. I'm thinking this is for, you know, 'cause we're talking college and high school students. Don't act shocked, don't be sworn to secrecy. Oh yeah, that's a big one. And that's a hard one not to do. Offer hope, take action, get help. So here is a new poster that I have to put in my file. Again, they're saying 211, right? And we also know we now have 811 as well. What else do I have? In my same little folder that they sent me, I don't know if NSSF knew this, but this is Hello Miss Fiona. Um, so you're on the Facebook— no, you're on the, yeah, YouTube side, working no less. Um, NSSF, um, pamphlet was also included in here. I've gone through this with you guys before. Um, more little handy-dandy postcards. And crazy amounts of resources for behavioral health here in Connecticut. So this is very cool that I got this. Now here's the fun part. Ready? So this was an envelope that I received from the Connecticut— oh my goodness— Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board, and it's going out to all firearm retailers. What I didn't know after I— when I received this was that NSSF was going to be sending me more stuff. So ready for this? I have a huge box. I have not opened the huge box. I thought we could open it together, um, and so here's what I'm doing. So I'm taking my Second Amendment knife Right. Oh wait, wrong side and upside down. My Second Amendment knife. I'm going to open my box and see what happens, so hold please. I'm going to leave that up there so y'all can read what DJ put. Um, oh yes, and my yard is currently getting done, so if all of a sudden there's a leaf blower and you can barely hear me, I apologize. I can't really do anything about it. I probably should have opened the box before we started. But I didn't want you to be thinking that I wasn't as surprised as you are with what I got in there. So let's see what's in the box for Suicide Prevention September. Oh man, here it is. Packing stuff, because packing stuff is always useful and it's good for starting fires. Then what else do I have? I have an entire kit of NSSF stuff. So just like the Connecticut group, that they are, um, partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. And of course now I have to be able to open this thing. Oh, is that as far as I went? Yes. So this one is going to be national. This is specifically from the national, um, Shooting Sports Foundation. I think that's everything that's in there. This is one big thing. It gives me a giant poster, which if anybody wants the giant poster, let me know because I will send it to you because I already have the giant poster. However, it's always good to get more. All right, and they sent me the list of, um, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have created a groundbreaking partnership developed educational materials for firearms retailers and shooting facilities can use to raise awareness. So that's what this all is. I've been over this with you guys before, but I just want to let you know that, you know, the— hey, crabby turtle— um, that NSSF, which is a firearms group, is doing everything that they can to have this brave conversation, to talk about suicide prevention. Um, and here comes the weed eater. I don't know if you guys are gonna hear it or not.— but wait, give it to Jason? Oh, Josh. Yeah, I can give it to Josh. So shout out to Lock and Load here in Connecticut. It's a firearms retailer here that Fiona introduced me to, and the owner is Josh. So here we have it: NSSF, the gun world is trying to do something about the suicide problem. What are you trying to do about the suicide problem? If two out of every 3 gun deaths the CDC tells you about are actually suicides, then where is our violence problem? Is it here in our heads? That. So anyway, I will talk to y'all later. That is everything. I'm gonna end on the weed eater coming. And tomorrow night, I will warn you, I have no idea what's going to be happening at 9 o'clock Eastern because I am off to a competition with my son tomorrow and I don't know where we'll be driving. So it may only be on Facebook because I do not know that I can do StreamYard from a phone. I haven't tried that trick yet. So that's that. Uh, I will see everyone at least on Facebook tomorrow. I know some of you hate Facebook, but that may be why you don't see me here tomorrow night. Here being on YouTube, because that's where most of you who are commenting are. All right, thank you all for popping in. Uh, it's been 11 minutes. I will— oh, GT3, uh, good morning and goodbye. Um, you can watch the replay though, there's always that. Um, yeah, and wish me luck for the competition, it's gonna be interesting. Uh, I need to look at that thing on the bump on the front of the gun. I think it's called a front sight because I did a little bit of shooting yesterday. It's not pretty. Um, all right, hun, Just Cause Available does not know me, that I know how to make it work, but I will try to make it work tomorrow night. But But I will tell you, Suicide Prevention Saturday is going to be on the road, so it may end up being mostly just audio. But all right, uh, actually, GT3, if you've got any tips or tricks, email me because I actually have to get on the road momentarily. And yes, please go visit my website, come visit, come spend money at a Great Start Shooting School. And oh wait, ready? I know, just because he put it up there. I got new hats in, so if anybody wants a pink hat, let me know. And yes, I have the gray ones too. I am— here's what I'm doing with my hats. Speaking of Suicide Prevention Saturday, this is a donation. You cannot actually buy them. You can donate $25 or more. For those of you who want shipping, $30. But donate $25 or more, and I'm actually starting a scholarship program. But I should probably do a video separate on that. So enjoy mine. You want the pink one or the gray one? And yes, uh, what DJ said, have an awesome, awesome day. Enjoy your weekend. I will be— enjoy the holiday weekend. I keep forgetting it's a holiday weekend. I am shooting and teaching, so I don't know what holidays are anymore. All right, I will see y'all later. Bye everybody, thanks for stopping in.