In this 15‑minute live stream, Brooke Cheney, a gun‑owner and instructor at Great Start Shooting School, hosts her recurring "Suicide Prevention Saturday" segment. She opens by introducing herself, the on‑site dog Scully, and the purpose of the series: to raise awareness that suicide, especially firearm‑related suicide (which accounts for two‑thirds of gun deaths), is preventable. Throughout the monologue she weaves personal anecdotes—her uncle’s suicide, her sister’s sudden death, her own experiences with bipolar disorder and medication adherence, and her brother’s presence—to illustrate the complexities of mental health. Cheney discusses the challenges of bipolar medication, the link between chronic illness (e.g., diabetes) and depression, and shares her libertarian‑informed stance on assisted suicide, emphasizing quality of life and personal freedom of choice. She also touches on practical harm‑reduction measures during the COVID‑19 era (mask wearing, hand washing) and shooting safety (eye and ear protection). The stream is interactive: she reads viewer comments, answers questions about suicide prevention and shooting, and encourages open dialogue, peer support, and the mantra "be you." She concludes by promising weekly Saturday sessions, urging the community to talk about suicide to potentially save lives.
Chapters
All right, sorry. So multitasking, A, it's a lie, and oh, look at that, I keep chopping my own head off. Hey Peter, I was thinking of you. It's not something that you did or you, you put up, and I don't remember what. All right, so tonight y'all have to feed me. Hey Mike, I'm looking forward to seeing you and Ben sometime in the near future. Um, Wednesday afternoons, Friday, and Saturday are when I'm open. And like today, I've been on the ranch since 5 o'clock this morning and finished at 6, 6 o'clock— no, 5 o'clock. It's been a long day. It's good though, it's awesome. I gave away 4 free lessons, that was cool. All right, so I need to put some SPF on because It's been a day. All right. Hi. I'm a few moments late because honestly I already crashed on the couch once today because it's just, it's because I did anyway. All right. Suicide Prevention Saturday. My name is Brooke Cheney. I am here at a Great Start Shooting School, hence the dog with headphones, ear protection, and you know, You know, 'cause even Scully knows to wear eye and ear protection. Scully, I'm gonna assume, is the dog's name. Suicide Prevention Saturday. I'm Brooke Cheney. I'm not a counselor or anything like that. We just, I just pop on here to talk about things that are hard to talk about and suicide sucks. So as a gun owner, 2 out of every 3 firearm deaths are suicide. And my hope is if we can prevent suicide on a grand scale, not only will it lower suicide, not only will it lower deaths via firearm, but imagine all of the other deaths that we could possibly get rid of if we actually pay attention to suicide prevention. So that is why I do this, to raise awareness that suicide is preventable. And that we do need to talk about it, um, on so many levels. So that being said, if you guys watching have any specific questions, let me know. Uh, normally I have an idea of what I want to talk about, but my brain is kind of fried this evening. So, hey Dean, hey Sharon, I'm like, I see your little tiny picture. 'Cause Facebook's made it impossible for me to go live from my computer. So on my computer I have YouTube, on my phone I have Facebook. Oh my gosh, someone please send me a question so I have something to talk about because otherwise it's gonna be probably the shortest Suicide Revenge Saturday because that's all it's gonna be is my intro about why I am here. 'Cause my wee little brain, Um, yeah, teaching all day. It's awesome. So excited. And no, none of us wore masks, and yes, we all washed our hands. And did we have a great time? We had a great time. So doing something that you enjoy, doing something that's fun, that's absolutely a way to avoid suicide. Paying attention to the amazing things in life, looking at life as if, as if it is brand new. Um, One of the things I've definitely been— oh wait, sorry, I have— he went off his meds because he was bipolar. All right, so sorry, Dean. Unfortunately, I'm watching on this little tiny screen and I saw something. Um, hold on, I'm gonna cheat. I'm gonna use my computer to stalk myself. So I can see what Dean said. Oh, let's see. My favorite uncle killed himself with a gun. He had gone off his meds for bipolar. Yeah. So this is one of those totally sucky things. Hey Susan. And see, now it's like, ooh, squirrel. This is why it's hard to read stuff. So bipolar sucks for lots of reasons. Um, but I totally get the going off the meds thing because, uh, it's sort of like when I was pregnant. I know it's gonna sound odd, but they put drugs in me to induce my pregnancy, and then they took them off, and then my pregnancy stalled. And to me, all my friends who have bipolar are the same, whereas like they take the medicine, they feel better, and they feel as though maybe they were cured. And then they come off the medicine and they are not cured because it's just an actual chemical imbalance in their bodies. So, uh, medication sucks because you have to remember to take it. Um, we were actually just talking about diabetics at dinner tonight, and diabetes is super hard, uh, because it messes with your chemistry, and depression is a side effect of diabetes for lots of people, and it's a lot of work to manage. So whether it's managing your meds and remembering, it's like I have the worst time even just remembering to take one medication a day, much less 3 to 5, because I try to do fish oil, all that fun stuff. Um, what do I think about assisted suicide? Well, uh, I believe in quality of life. I have my sister who just died in a car accident and when we asked the questions, what's good about this, we agreed the fact that she died instantaneously was one of the good things, that we didn't have to decide for her or turn off anything. I've seen amazing people turn into, well, slobbering messes attached to machines and stuff. And I was just thinking about how sometimes our animals get more respect than our people do, because quality of life matters. And as a libertarian, I believe in freedom of choice and to live or to die. So it just depends on why. Do you really not have a choice? Do you really not have anything to look forward, um, You didn't know? I tell everybody various stories all the time, Christine. Don't feel bad. Most people didn't even know that I had a brother when my sister died and he came to the funeral because it's from another dad, but another mother. Yeah, it really is another, but anyway, so the assisted suicide thing, I believe in freedom of choice. Assisted suicide to me is due to lack of quality of life. That is not a woe is me, everything sucks, um, because regular suicide, um, yeah, I have a brother. Shush, Dean, you've met my brother. Hush, you. Um, oh gosh, yeah, see, I can't read the comments and talk to you guys, and yet I need you to talk to me so that I can stay on track. So I don't know, Mike, does that answer your question basically? So I believe in freedom of choice. I believe that your life is always worth living. Um, someone's always got it worse than you, someone's always got it better. I think some of the more inspiring people I know actually have multiple sclerosis and are stuck in wheelchairs and can't walk or do stuff for themselves, and I think they're the most amazing people in the world. Because they get through it anyway. And I look at amazing people who are physically disabled, but mentally they're so much stronger. So it just depends on what your— what's it called— your quality of life. Because there are people that have everything, everything, millions of dollars waiters and, um, everything around them, and their lives are empty because they don't have a purpose. And I know some of the poorest people in the world are the happiest people in the world because they have nothing and they've worked for everything that they have, so they've got purpose. So, um, quality of life matters a whole lot, and it's just very odd because we only know what we know. What I've experienced in my life is that you can— I can overcome things. Sometimes it's by ignoring them and just pretending it never happened. Sometimes it's crashing right through it. But what I can do is different than what you can do, and what I've experienced is different than what you've experienced. There are some people who a paper cut is traumatic. And it just is because they've not had any other type of, you know, pain and suffering. And then there are other times when, you know, your finger could be hanging off, but you don't even notice it because there's something else going on. So I'm just totally blathering now. Hi, Den. Just like, because I'm sort of that sleepy. But, um, I can't stay on track. All right, someone else asked another question. It is all relative, and this is one of the hardest things, like, right now, especially with everybody being so cranky about stuff. Because, you know, some people— hey, Ed! Um, some people want to wear masks all the time to protect themselves. Other people don't want to wear masks because they think it's stupid. And people have a hard time having a difference of opinion because we believe what we believe. And if we're believing what we believe, we have to remember to ask somebody else why or what they're doing and understand that we don't have to agree with them, but we might want to consider maybe someone else's point of view. So one of my good friends who's another gun owner has COPD. And basically, and she's, she has, I think she's got 50% lung ability and that's on a good day. So she wears a mask and she's got the N95 ones. So it's not just protecting people around her, but it's actually protecting her and she needs that mask and she needs to go out with that. Me, I'm not really high risk. I believe in washing your hands, not touching your face as I just touched my face, right? And just taking care of you. I've got nurse friends who, they go to the, they go to work, they come home, they take a shower, they're good. It's about mitigation. But anyway, back to what Dean said about it's all relative. What I think is a no-brainer is what somebody else has to think really hard about. What somebody else thinks is a no-brainer, I don't even understand the concept of what they're talking about. So it's like, and it's about fear too, right? So let's see what else did Dean tell me. I think people are super cautious are also a little envious of people who seem carefree. Could be. Some people enjoy their fear. Some people like being afraid, just like some people are adrenaline junkies. And carefree and that sort of stuff. Um, because one of the things that Tony Robbins talks about is identity, and my identity is I've been through some stuff and I've had some challenges in life and I've made it through. And I know that life is precious because it does end someday, and none of us know when that day is. And I have no desire to live in bubble wrap and try to make everything safe. It doesn't mean that I am reckless all the time, but I also don't think that the idea that I can be safe all the time is really true, because life is not safe because we all die eventually. And, uh, yeah, so people who are saying, how dare you be on the beach while I'm a prisoner in my home, And that's just it. We're in America for the most part. We have the choice to come and go. Um, it's sort of funny, my friends who, uh, oh no. Yes, I go. So it is a shooting school thing, but on Saturdays we do Suicide Prevention Saturday, but I can't put Suicide Prevention Saturday on YouTube because they won't let me run. So if you look at the other videos on the on the channel though, you will see other shooting school stuff. So anyway, um, yes, those kind of things. It's true. I've been shooting all day long though, for real, uh, since 10, 10 o'clock this morning until 5 o'clock tonight. It was shooting school stuff, I promise. All right, so anyway, I am just about done because it's almost 15 minutes and that's usually as long as I do that. Um, but Psycho and Avia, um, if you guys have specific questions, let me know about suicide prevention and/or, um, shooting. And you guys on Facebook, um, yeah, I hope I rambled and blathered enough for you this evening. Uh, what am I missing? What am I missing? Yeah, I'm missing a full train of thought, so, um, Be you. One of my favorite things in, uh, in the shooting that I learned in shooting is you do you, right? And if you're going to do you, you kind of have to expect other people to do them. And, uh, thanks, Avia. Avia, I don't know. Um, and you do you includes you have to expect other people to not do the exact same thing you do, and you need to allow them to be them, you to do you, and understand that no one has to convince anyone otherwise. So those are my words of encouragement at the end of our 15 minutes together, because I thought this was totally going to be like a 5-minute thing. So thanks for checking it out. I will talk to you all next week because every Saturday I try to be here around 9 o'clock, some days earlier, some days a little later. Because suicide sucks, and if we all get together and talk about it, you never know whose life we could be saving. So good night, everyone. Oh wait, yes, really wanted to end, and I'll see
