Geauga County Suicide Prevention Coalition 440-285-3945 Fax: 440-285-2756

Hell was there
With all its blackness
There was no promise kept
No happiness was known
And then out of nowhere
Came the promise kept
And I knew beyond a doubt
That God was there
Healing and caressing me
Beyond Imagination

My name is Georgeanne Mitchell. I have been a wife for 28 years, I am a mother, a daughter, a sister. I am a Christian and beyond all of this - I AM a Manic Depressive. I have struggled with this disease for 40 some years. The illness led me down the path of suicide twice in the seventies. Once I overdosed on pills and was kept alive for a week on machines and once I opened up my arms so wide I don't know how I didn't die.

The most important thing I would like to get across to anyone thinking of suicide is that it is never an option. No matter how black or hopeless things seem there is a way out with help and guidance and the thing that is most incredulous is that you can never imagine what may come later on in life. I was able to raise a beautiful daughter. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate, married to a Psychiatrist. They have two beautiful children, whom I adore. Life is not easy. It is not meant to be. It is a struggle of the Soul. But it is a worthwhile journey, nevertheless and no matter how hopeless things have become there is always a way out.

One thing I'd like to explain to others who have not gone down the road of severe depression and hoplessness is that persons contemplating suicide are never in their right mind when they try it. It is a place void of hope. It is a dark tunnel where there is no light nor reason.

Depression, whether chemical due to mental illness or due to life's circumstances is never an easy place. It IS hell on earth. The flowers, the birds, the beauty of it all cease to be for you at such a time. It seems like there is no escape.

We have a battle on our hands-if we are to save our neighbors, our friends, our loved ones from the act of suicide. It is a battle which is being valiantly fought by many professionals and lay people together. It is a battle, however, that needs to be exposed to all of us. It is a battle that needs to be fought on all fronts. We have lost precious human beings in the past due to suicide. It is the llth ranked cause of death in the U.S.

Never take a threat of suicide lightly. Never think it is not serious. Get help. Reach out. Make a difference. Life is our most precious gift. You may never know who you might save.

A poem of life

Oh the simplicity of it all
Oh, to only but recall
The simple days,
the simple ways

The way a child learns to play

Oh life, such mysteries you do hold
Rather these than any gold

That earth can give I try to live...

A simple life
Where fret and strife
Are buried deep

I rest in sleep