NOTE: Please note, this episode contains conversation about suicidal thoughts and attempts. Please take good care of yourself if these topics are triggering or leave you feeling extra tender. If you’re struggling with mental health issues, support is available 24/7 through the Suicide Prevention Hotline, 1-800-273-8255 and more resources are listed below.
In today’s episode, I’m happy to introduce you to a dear friend of mine Erin Matlock. I’m so inspired by people like Erin who have travelled such a long way to create the life they are living now and are also sharing the very raw, real, and difficult moments that they have experienced to get here. The sharing of stories like Erin’s are truly life saving. Erin Matlock is an artist and author with 13 years experience as a consulting strategist in the brain health, neurotech, and mental health markets. An international and TEDx speaker, she boldly challenges the stigma of suicide through deeply personal accounts of survival and recovery.
Erin speaks so openly and honestly about her experiences with depression and suicidal ideations, as well as surviving multiple suicidal attempts. While I believe this information is so important to challenging the stigma, guilt, and shame that surrounds the topic of suicide, I do also want to encourage you to take good care of yourself when you listen to this. Know this is a challenging conversation and please seek help and support if you need it (see the links to suicide resources below).
During this conversation we explore Erin’s early childhood when she first started to experience the feeling of being different and unable to share her feelings and emotions with others. The way she describes how thoughts and feelings would just replay and “sit” with her gave me chills and I’m sure she put language to what so many people have felt and experienced before.
At the age of 15 she started having suicidal ideations.She shares her reflections on that time and what she thinks her parents could have done then to help her, such as found her support from therapy and also peer groups so that she would have known that it wasn’t just her. She didn’t know at the time that she had options, and how powerful the notion of having options can be.
She shares the trauma of being sent to treatment after her suicide attempt and the challenge of families, especially low income, to access support and treatment as well as the stigma of being the person that goes to one of those facilities.
Erin talks about the hardest day of her life, waking up in the ICU and coming out of a coma after her last suicide attempt and the thoughts and feelings she had leading up to that attempt and also how it felt to wake up and realize she was still alive. We talk about the people that surrounded her at that time and what a profound impact the small moments
I’m so grateful to Erin for sharing these hard moments as this feels like a hidden world because no one wants to talk about it. Erin sharing her story is so powerful at pulling the curtain back so that we can speak more openly about it and help our loved ones.
“I am worth a life that I always thought was reserved for other people.” ~ Erin Matlock
Erin shares the first time she thought maybe she could come back and the promise she made to herself in that hospital bed that was the difference maker. We also speak a lot about the practices and habits that Erin has incorporated into her life now to continue to support her mental health and overall well-being including; exercise, time in nature, the right therapist and the powerful influence of music on changing her state.
I asked Erin what she would say to families that have lost someone to suicide, that are often feeling so much anger, guilt, and even shame on top of their grief and sadness. She has such a wise and loving perspective on this.
And we talk about the beauty that she is creating in her life now through her poetry and her art. For anyone that feels like they are at rock bottom and in the midst of darkness, whether it’s depression or losing a job or relationship or something else, this conversation is for you.
I hope you enjoy this conversation with Erin Matlock as much as I did. Please share it with your friends and family, and be sure to tag me if you share it on social media so that I can say thank you. I’m @christinarasmussen7 on Instagram and @ChristinaRasmussen2014 on Facebook.
More About Erin Matlock
Erin Matlock is an artist and author with 13 years experience as a consulting strategist in the brain health, neurotech and mental health markets. She is Founder of BRAIN SUMMIT, a life member of Mensa® and a globally recognized mindset coach.
An international and TEDx speaker, she boldly challenges the stigma of suicide through deeply personal accounts of survival and recovery.
You can connect with her via her website, Facebook, and Instagram
Things We Mention In This Episode
Website: www.erinmatlock.com Book: Worth It: Poetry, by Erin Matlock TEDxTalk: The Search for a Happier Brain, by Erin Matlock How to Help Someone in Crisis 10 Things to Say to a Suicidal Person Book: Where Did You Go? by Christina Rasmussen Book: Second Firsts by Christina Rasmussen Newsletter - Message In a Bottle: Sign up for Christina’s weekly letterApple podcast reviews and ratings are really important to help get the podcast in front of more people to uplift and inspire them too, which is the ultimate goal. Thank you!
