Suicide prevention seminar bringing the community together

POPLAR BLUFF Mo. (KBSI) -People from different areas of the community gather today for a Suicide Prevention Seminar in Poplar Bluff. The goal; uniting to end the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health issues and find solutions. 

“The recovery process felt like I was in a boxing match, I mean it was a fight,” said presenter, Caroline Cooper.

Cooper is a writer, speaker, and mental health support group leader. She traveled from Kansas City Wednesday to talk about the importance of writing and how getting your thoughts on paper can be therapeutic. 

In fact, to Caroline, journaling is so therapeutic that she decided to write a book. Through her experience of writing, she turned the concept of a boxing match into a workbook for depression and trauma or any form of mental challenges people may face. 

“It was a fight for my sanity, it was a fight for my emotional health. It was a fight to overcome the feelings and the effects of trauma. It was a fight, sometimes I won a round, sometimes I lost a round,” she said.

Cooper’s book In This Corner ties the battle of boxing and life together. Now, she tells the public that you can’t always win every match, but you can always practice how you punch.

“What is it I am fighting against? This is what I am fighting. I am not fighting the past. I am not fighting a person. I am fighting a condition in my life. You have to really identify what it is that I am fighting so that you recognize what you are trying to recover from and how you can get healthy. You don’t know how to get healthy if you don’t know what you’re dealing with,” said Cooper.

Twan Robinson is a speaker who represents Bootheel Behavioral Health. 

Speaking meant so much to her as she was targeting the elderly. For Robinson, this hits home because she took a real situation from her own life and shared her learning experiences to the public.

“I am right at that age, so it brought home some points, but also because I have been taking care of my mom who is elderly. She passed away this morning God bless. I took care of her, and I was able to be very transparent and share my experiences and how she dealt with depression without acknowledging depression, but I knew what she was going through,” said Robinson.

Robinson was passionate about sharing one thing with others: 

“Faith. My faith keeps me, but I also know that my mom would not have. She wouldn’t have been happy if I would’ve done anything else,” said Robinson.

Everyone was encouraged to come and learn about suicide prevention and depression, but this seminar was also targeted towards veterans. 

Toni Stoner is a nurse for John J Pershing and has been working for veterans for 13 years. She holds them dear to her heart as her family members were also a part of this nation’s military. 

Stoner wants to learn all the ways she can help elderly veterans overcome the struggles they face internally. 

“As you can tell I am wearing the 988 stays. We want all of veterans to stay we want everyone to stay so anything we can do to prevent suicide we are all for,” said Stoner.