‘I’m Glad I Exist’: Suicide Survivors Speak Out

World Suicide prevention week 2021: Suicide survivors recount their stories.

(Photo: FIT)

Trigger warning: Discussions of suicide attempts, depression, self harm

(5th to 11th September is observed as suicide prevention week. FIT is republishing this story in light of it.)

(Video Editor: Vivek Gupta)

(If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs)

Ayesha Iyer is a successful film-maker, dancer, theatre actor and CEO of her own company AyeKa.

Chhavi Dawar has found her purpose in life - something most people search for in vain - she is now a child rights activist and Ph.D. student.

Sangeetha Param is a TedX speaker, author of 2 books and mental health advocate.

All three of these women are also suicide survivors.

Surviving suicide and living with the depression that often accompanies it, is a lifelong journey. Watch them tell you theirs.

FIT worked with YourDOST, an online counseling and emotional wellness platform which provides 24x7 emotional support to people all over the country,
to collate these stories.

Getting Help: The Journey Out Of The Darkness

“It was very uncomfortable at first, but I just talked and talked to my mother, my husband Raj. I want to tell people who are feeling like me, just talk to your inner circle, reach out, and if they don’t understand don’t give up, keep talking,” says Ayesha.

Chhavi had a tumultuous childhood with abuse that she could only name in Class 10 after a class on sex education and abuse. “When I want to give up, and trust me, there are many days, I just think of the many kids going through this and the many lives I have to save and that keeps me going.”

Sangeetha adds that “therapy, family and friends and medication” helped her heal. “And a lot of self-therapy, a lot of positive self-talk.”

Suicide is preventable, and although the journey towards healing is long and often difficult, it is worth it.

“I take it one day at a time, so I tell myself, ‘Okay, you have made it one more day, good.”

Ayesha Iyer