Suicide Survivor Now Helps Others To Work On Their Mental Health

Sometimes the things that happen to us can make us stronger, but sometimes they can make our fears and insecurity to come up to the surface. Not everybody reacts calmly and reasonably when faced with loss and failures.Show more

Christen McGinnes was very close to her grandmother, so when she passed away, this girl felt heartbroken. Even worse, at that same time she lost her job, and the boyfriend she was living with broke up with her. All of a sudden, she felt left alone, with nobody to give her comfort and safe place.

After a while she started living with a friend. But, as it seemed, she couldn’t find happiness and hope in anything. Then one foggy morning in 2010 she loaded her 357 revolver at her home in Virginia and calmly made the decision to shoot herself in the head. Luckily for Christen, her roommate was at home, so she quickly called the ambulance. She was airlifted to a hospital and was in a coma for three weeks. The bullet had destroyed the right side of her face.

It took 49 surgeries to reconstruct Christen’s face, but at the end all that mattered was that she was alive. The love and care she received from the people around her showed this woman that life was worth living.

Her friend Howard says: "For Christen to go through all these surgeries and watching her go through the process, it only underlined what I always thought about her. I always thought that she was a strong person, I always thought that she was a capable person, I always thought that she had great compassion for others."

Now Christen spends her time helping others break the stigma that surrounds mental health and suicide attempts by volunteering at the Trauma Network Centre in Virginia.

"I don’t believe that things happen for a reason. I believe it’s up to us to find the reason in the things that happen" says Christen.