In this informal livestream replay, Brooke Cheney, owner and instructor at A Great Start Shooting School, restarts a missed live broadcast to discuss suicide prevention and mental‑health self‑care. She opens by acknowledging a technical glitch with StreamYard, then invites viewers to introduce themselves. The core of the talk centers on practical self‑care actions—cooking a healthy breakfast, maintaining good posture, smiling, deep breathing, and giving oneself small kudos—as everyday tools to support mental well‑being. Cheney highlights the stark statistic that roughly 22 U.S. veterans die by suicide each day, emphasizing the need for awareness, education, and accessible mental‑health resources, especially concerning firearm safety. She shares her own past experience with suicidal thoughts as a teenager, underscoring the importance of regular counseling and empathy for those who struggle. A brief story from the children's book Zen Shorts—"The Farmer's Luck"—is used to illustrate how perception of events influences mental health, encouraging viewers to let go of unhelpful thoughts. Throughout, she encourages audience interaction, asks for topic suggestions, and offers to answer questions in future sessions.
Chapters
So, hi replay viewers, it is 9:12 and I just want to say that I started this at 9 o'clock right on the dot, except for the fact I forgot to hit the button that said go live. So I just talked to myself for 12 minutes before I realized that I'm like, huh, No one is jumping in, no one is saying anything. And then I realized, I'm like, well, I guess no one's here tonight, only to realize I never hit the go live button. I think I'm back to that point where I'm like, yeah, I don't really like tech very much, but I am playing with this new thing called StreamYard. So, um, in theory it allows me to do stuff like share, um share stuff. So yeah, so see, now there's already 3 people. And for those of you who just jumped on, the reason I'm so late is because I already did suicide prevention, but I forgot to hit the go live button. So this is take 2 for tonight. Um, all right, so let me start all over again. Uh, say something in the comments, say hi, whatever. I just, because I'm using this new software, I just kind of want to see who's here. So So if you can, whether you're on YouTube or Facebook, um, and, uh, even say hi from where, like, uh, I've got this on my personal page right now. I have it on my business page on Facebook and then I have it on my business YouTube Live. So in the comments, feel free to say watching on and wherever you're watching. So, okay, we're going to try this all over again. Hi everyone. It's Suicide Prevention Saturday. Part 2. Um, and my name is Brooke Cheney and I am the owner instructor here at A Great Start Shooting School. And I am super tired today. I can't wait to sleep in, but I'm not sleeping in. So Suicide Prevention Saturday because suicide sucks. And what did I put in the description? I think I put that we're going to talk about mental health for all because one of the most common questions I get from people is how can I help others? And as wonderful it is to want to help others, we have to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves. My daughter, like, 2 weeks ago, she said, Mom, did you know it's National Self-Care Day? And the answer to that question is no, I did not know. And every day should sort of be National Self-Care Day, because unless you're taking care of yourself, you can't really help anyone else. So mental health Tips. Number 1, take care of yourself. Saw that one coming, right guys? 2, when you don't know what to do, ask yourself, how can I take care of myself today to know that I'm valuing myself and doing what I need to do? I will give you an example. Yesterday I got up and I made myself breakfast and I cooked some bacon, threw some onions on the griddle, got some spinach, cheese, eggs, put that all together, and that was self-care. I was cooking for myself, I was cooking healthy for myself, and I acknowledged the fact that when I cooked and fed myself, that was self-care. Now, it can come in lots of ways. Ready? Shoulders back. Oh wow, this looks really crooked. Anyway, um, shoulders back, Smile. Just laugh at me being a goof, right? This is self-care. There's all sorts of psychological stuff that talks about if you smile, it engages a whole bunch of different neurons in your head and all of that. I'm not that techie on all the psych stuff. I've just heard it and I'm just spitting it back out for you guys. So smile, shoulders back, simple as that. That is self-care. A big breath in, a big breath out. Also self-care, also super good for you. The more oxygen you have, the more energy you have, the less stress that you have. All right, what else? All right, today is November 13th. 2 days ago was Veterans Day. Suicide Prevention Saturday is really important because roughly 22 veterans a day die due to suicide. Is it all by guns? No. Is it majorly? Yes. Does it mean we should take all guns away from veterans? No. It's a matter of being aware in order to stop death and destruction happening with firearms. It's about education. It is about helping people. It is about allowing our mental health system to grow and expand so that it makes sense and is there for you. Whatever your situation is. When we talk about suicide and I talk about how I was suicidal as a teen and other people like, how could that ever be? It's just like, just because you haven't lived it, it just kind of is. But for me, my— I'm on the flip side where it's like when people are like, oh yeah, that's ridiculous, or whatever. And I'm like, I can't imagine anyone not going to counseling on a regular basis because that doesn't make sense to me. Just like being suicidal doesn't make sense to people who have not been So, all right, anywho, what else is there? Suicide prevention, Veterans Day, veterans, 22 a day die. So, um, from suicide, give or take, I believe, I'm not sure because I haven't looked it up lately, but that number is dropping at least a little bit. There are multiple ways that veterans are being lifted up out of the trenches as far as PTSD treatment and having more things available to them. So just support people who can support them, and that's kind of all I got for tonight. I said a whole bunch of stuff previously, um, and now I have to remember what else it was. So veteran suicide is horrible. All suicides are horrible, don't get me wrong. Teen suicide and preteen suicide is also growing, hence another reason mental health is so important for people to start paying attention to. And like I just gave you the examples, self-care can be really simple and easy. We just have to remember to do it. Every day we're making thousands of decisions. Just watching this, you're actually making a boatload of decisions. Are you gonna look at my mouth, my nose, my eyes? Are you gonna look at the pictures behind me? Are you just gonna have this on audio and just listen and you're looking at something else in the room that you're there with? All of those are decisions. We're very tired from making decisions all the time here in America because we have so many choices, which is awesome. Mental health. And I am rambling because I already did this once. I forgot what I've told you guys and what I haven't, so I apologize. Self-worth. We are really good at beating ourselves up, whether we are suicidal or not. Give yourself kudos for doing something today. And yes, you can give yourself a kudo for making your bed this morning, or putting your feet on the floor, or getting dressed. And it seems crazy that you would want to give yourself like a high five for that, But you should, because that helps your neurons fire positively, because there is stuff beating us up all the time. That's all I got, for real. I know it's a little bit shorter than normal, but it's because I already forgot all the other stuff that I had said previously. One last thing to leave you with: earlier tonight I did, um, story time where— with my Zen Shorts. And the story I told, or the story I read out of here, was The Farmer's Luck. And when we're talking about all those decisions we're making on a regular basis, whether something is good or something is bad is a decision that we make. It doesn't mean that it's true. So feel free to go watch The Farmer's Luck and see if that makes sense to you now. Be aware of what you're thinking on a regular basis. Is it serving you or is it bringing you down? Let go of that stuff. It does not serve you. Use what serves you and makes you stronger and better. And if you have any comments, questions, or anything else, feel free to message me as always. And I think that's it. I will talk to you all later. And any suggestions or ideas for subjects let me know, and maybe I'll actually plan this out one Saturday or another. Oh yes, I'm just gonna go now. I thought of something, but that can be saved for next week. Have a great weekend. I'll talk to you guys next week.
