In a live‑stream recorded at her 35‑year high‑school reunion in Greenfield, MA, Brooke Cheney (the speaker) uses the occasion to host a "Suicide Prevention Saturday" session. She opens by acknowledging technical issues, greets viewers, and thanks various chat participants. The core of the talk links firearm deaths to suicide, citing CDC data that two‑thirds of gun deaths are self‑inflicted, and argues that mental‑health conversation is essential for saving lives. Cheney shares her own history of suicidal thoughts in high school, describing how she once had a detailed plan to make a suicide look accidental, how counseling helped her abandon that plan, and how those painful experiences shaped her current advocacy. She weaves personal anecdotes about overcoming depression, a career‑ending knee injury, family struggles, and a friend’s recovery from addiction, using the metaphor of a chick breaking out of its egg to illustrate growth through struggle. Throughout, she encourages viewers to seek help, practice daily learning, and support each other. The broadcast also promotes her ongoing weekly livestreams (since 2018), her Patreon, an upcoming book, and related channels such as A Great Start Shooting School, Walk the Talk America, and 2A advocacy platforms. She ends with a brief call‑to‑action: watch future streams, subscribe, and take care of oneself.
Chapters
All right, I don't know what just happened. Hi everyone. Um, I am here in the closet now. I realize it probably reverberates even worse, but anyway, uh, y'all let me know if the sound is awful or not. Um, it is Suicide Prevention Saturday and I am not at a Great Start Shooting School. I am at Stony Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which is where I graduated from. That's the high school thing. Um, And we are here for our 35th reunion. So tonight, I don't know, it's going to be a little bit shorter because I got girls waiting for me, but I would not miss you guys. So thanks for Paul Lathrop, who is here in the chat. And yes, I know he's going to get a banana split. Gunpowder Beauty, thanks for being first. I think this is your first time being first, or at least that I'm aware of. Mike White, thanks for checking in at the Bullet and over here. So why are we here? Super Saturday. Because 2 of every 3 gun deaths the CDC tells you about are suicides. And if we really want to save lives, we really have to talk about a great— talk about suicide prevention. Because not only could we save lives of those who commit suicide with a firearm, but all the other people in all the other ways. And wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where mental health was something we talked about on a regular basis and was able to help people on a regular basis? So with that, G-Webs, I see you are third on the thumbs up over on the YouTube side. Thank you. Um, and yeah, I don't know what this comment is, but GPW, you're gonna have to explain that. What are fur missiles out to potty? Oh wait, I got it now. Sorry. Yeah, I won't even tell you what I thought that meant. But anyway, um, see, you know, when we're potty training kids when they're little, you know, you put Cheerios in for them to hit. So I was thinking the missiles were something that you flush down a toilet. Anyway, um, let's see. CNT, nice to see you over here, just coming over from the Daily Bullet over at Second Amendment Foundation. And I think I'm through everybody. Oh gosh, and I just highlighted everything. Oh, there's my DJ. I realized he's not here with me because I forgot to tell him, send him the link. I apologize, DJ, um, because I'm like, where is he? Then I'm like, oh yeah, that'd be my fault. So With that, I have no idea what tonight is. Oh yes, that's right. I said I didn't know because this was going to be here at Reunion. So let's talk about it. The reality of it is I do Suicide Prevention Saturday because I came here. And oh, Guns and Barbecue is even out there. Audio is thumbs up. And now I can't— DJ, I should have said this to you because I know I'm trying to figure out how to take your thing down. So Anyway, uh, banner. Oh yes, thank you, sir. I will. Yeah, multitasking. See, this is the challenge of not having my, my assistant here. Banner. Yay! I don't know how to get rid of your we, but there is that. So we're just gonna look at DJ saying we all night long. So I can at least change it. I just don't have— oh, then I can hide. Ah, there we go. All right, so Um, what do I mean we are all here because I went to school here? Well, when I was in high school, I was suicidal, and here I am back at Reunion. I am not currently suicidal, but had I not had my formative years here in this school, I wouldn't be doing Suicide Prevention Saturday, if that makes any sense. So, you know that whole thing that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? That would be this, because I didn't go ahead and go through any of the actual ability to take my own life. I had a plan. I knew how to make it look like an accident. I would make sure that no one would have ever known that I had, um, had suicidal tendencies because I didn't want to hurt anyone. So because of all of that, when I got out of high school is when I started going to counseling. And learning that, hmm, having a plan how to kill yourself, not actually normal. However, it was my normal at the time, so I didn't really think anything of it. It's like, yes, I thought about it. Yes, I was sad and depressed. Did I follow through on any of it? No. So I didn't think it really mattered until I started going to counseling and like, no, you should not have a plan to take your life. No, you should not have a plan on how to make it look an accident. You should be— you should be healed. You should be taking care of yourself so that you know you are worthy. So I'm checking in with all of you guys tonight because you guys are always here, um, and some of you watch us on replay, and I thank you for that as well. And the likes and the shares and all of that is always helpful, um, But life is hard. It just is. There is no easy button. Um, you must have the darkness to find the light. The darker your life goes, the brighter your light shines. I have a friend of mine who just celebrated, I want to say his 35th, um, oh wait, which is not just because we're at my 35th reunion, but I think this is like his 30th year sober. And he was someone who almost died because of his alcohol and drug addiction, and he had nothing left, and AA saved his life. And, um, so this is where the darkness is, where the light comes from. So many people think that life is supposed to be good and easy, and if I get everything I want, then it's just going to be better. And the truth is, our muscles— and whether it's emotional or physical— our muscles are built under stress and strain and the difficulties. Lately, I've found myself telling the story about a little baby chicken. Did you know, if you have a baby chick about to hatch out of an egg and you see that little beak peeking through, if you pop that chicken open the chicken's gonna die. The chicken must do the suffering and the work to get out of the shell because that's what enlivens its blood flow and activates its muscles and gets it so that it can survive outside of the shell, is all the work it needs to do. And I think a lot of people think that it's just supposed to be easy, and easy is not always better. Um, let's see. Hi, Michael Dunn. Uh, I haven't seen you here before, so nice to see you. I'm assuming you know everybody else that is here, or did you just come over from Paul's thing? I don't know, because I know people are asking. So, all right, um, see you Saturday. If this is your first time here, thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming over from the Daily Bullet and catching me live here. Uh, any questions, let me know. Um, Like I said, I wasn't planning on going on really long tonight simply for the fact that I, I do have a party to get to for real. But since 2018, I have been coming on here every week, sometimes on Sunday because life does not always go according to plan. But for the most part, I am here on Saturday nights. What do you mean you did not know that? Oh yes, sorry about the chicken. I'm assuming that's what you didn't know yet. And this is the other thing. Um, when stressful things happen, um, it's super important to remember to learn something new every day. Just like, um, just like the chicken, we must struggle, we must learn, we must understand there's always another way. And I think that's also one of the things that I have learned from my depression and when I was suicidal about there's always a way to look at it different. How else can I look at this? I have a 15-year-old daughter and we talk about this all the time. What else could this mean? Probably one of the most important things I've ever learned from Tony Robbins, because when something seems horrible, it might be or it might not. Um, back to things that were formative for who I am now are really the horrible things. It's taking a year off from school so that I can actually train for the Olympics. Blowing my knee out, blowing my possibility of going to the Olympics. That, that was super hard. And at the time, I thought my life was over. You know how drama as teens are. So, um, so that was one of the big things where I'm like, here I am, I've been training hard, I want to go to the Olympics, I blow my knee out. I'm like, lots of sadness, lots of anger, lots of loss. Something that I've been training for for a really long time. It just poof, in one flip, landed wrong. I was doing freestyle skiing. So that was the first thing. Then here I am, 19, like, all right, fine, I'm not going there. But I got into the, the college of my first choice, Redlands University out in California. Uh, the market crashed. Dad says, nope, sorry, I can't send you. Horror again. Again, 19, 20, we get very emotional. So the worst things in my life, the things that just changed my life that I thought were nothing was ever I'm going to be good again. Those two things, if those two horrible things at the time had not happened, I would not be with the man that I'm with. I would not have the children that I have. I would not be here talking to you about Second Amendment or suicide prevention. My life would be totally different. Uh, some people know it as the butterfly effect. It's like the little things that change are what make you who you are. Um, I listened to lots of speakers. They're like, what would you go tell your 18-year-old self or your younger self? I'm like, I would never change a thing because I would not be the person who I am today. So, um, and thank you for that, Mike. I just wanted— yes, I'm glad you know some of these nuts. I know most of them, well, on here at least. So, um, let's see, anything else? Oh shucks, see, DJ, remind me after I get off to make sure to give you the links to all the rest of this because doing this by myself while on the road, definitely a little bit more challenging. So Uh, Chris from the 740, I don't think I've said hi to you yet this evening. Um, who else, who else? CNT, we saw you over there. Michael, I think we got it. I think I'm caught up. Uh, I hope. I see lots of highs, and I don't know who Buck is, but I'm guessing— oh, Tactical Fudd is here also. Hi everybody. Um, sorry I don't have my DJ. It's all my fault because, um Yeah, because I forgot to give him the thing, so the link, so he could be in here clicking on all of these things. And, uh, yes, and Mike, it was very cute over on, uh, the, uh, other side. We're like, you're just waiting for me. I thought that was adorable. So thank you very much, and thanks Paul for putting that up. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I think this just might be my shortest Suicide Prevention Saturday, um, just because, you know, there's a party waiting. I'm not gonna lie, I really do want to go, but, um, Let's see, what is most important? 1, I'll get to see you all next week, I hope. 2, if you're watching the replay, do something good for yourself. And 3, um, make sure you like, subscribe, all that fun stuff. And DJ is getting me better about— oh, by the way, I have a Patreon channel. I don't do anything on it yet, but I'm working on that. So by all means, um, you know, check that out. I don't even— I can't even drop a link to it because I don't even know, but I will be writing my book over there. And I will be talking more about 2A advocacy and just advocacy in general. And so those are the two things that I'm going to talk about more specifically on the Patreon channel. I'm going to try to get bi-monthly stuff up there right now. And, um, that's what I got. Two out of every three gun deaths are suicide. We need to talk more about mental health. Uh, Walk the Talk America is one of the things that DJ dropped on the YouTube side. If you're watching on the Facebook side, please feel free to go check out the YouTube channel. Uh, there is more stuff coming on the YouTube channel for training from A Great Start Shooting School. And I believe that is everything I have for you. Shortest one in a while, but I hope it was worthwhile. Thank you all for checking in. I'm gonna go play with my girls now, so have a good week and I'll see y'all next week, hopefully, if not sooner, because, you know, there might be that pop-up live somewhere. You never
