Last month I sat in the studio to take an updated self portrait and reflected on the past 5 years since starting this project in 2017. This project began with a wave of emotion and excitement then quickly started to pick up momentum – so many people resonating with the discussions happening around mental illness…
The Faces
Their stories, their words — the subjects from the Faces of Fortitude project — talk about suicide; be it loss, survival, ideation, first responders. Faces of Fortitude shares the portraits of those affected by suicide in any way, and a few of their words from my session with them. THIS blog is an extension of…
I am one of the SIX
They say six people are deeply impacted by every one suicide. If we’re counting family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors (the list goes on), I’d argue suicide directly affects so many more. For arguments sake, let’s agree the number is only six. With 800,000 people dying by suicide worldwide every year, that means at least 4.8…
Monique – Session After thoughts
I went into my Faces of Fortitude session prepared to share my story, but I was not prepared for the reaction I got afterwards. I was pretty confident walking into my session, but unsure of what to expect out of this experience. Mariangela made me feel so comfortable, and sharing my story with her felt…
Xico – Taking Inventory
You may have heard that Seattle has been a bit of a, shall we say, ruthless, frigid bitch these past few weeks. It has already been declared the snowiest February on record and we aren’t even halfway through. Up until this point the winter had been really quite mild and it’s almost as if Seattle…
Angie’s Story – 11 yrs after her Fathers suicide
In 2007 my father killed himself. My father was brilliant, hilarious, and a great dad. His mental illness was undiagnosed, but looking back I see that we navigated his illness for most of our lives. I have spent many years being very angry with him. I felt like his death and the manner that it…
Marika – Vulnerability Hangover
I was born with a brain that has never been remotely interested in things that are good for me. If my brain was an actual person, that person would sabotage me at every turn, then photoshop Adam Levine into all of my Instagram photos. For much of my life, I thought I was broken, an…
Heather: Teacher & Survivor
As this school year began I sat in a staff meeting. The school counselor clicked and a slide showing behaviors and warning signs of suicidal students. I shifted in my seat, the descriptors painted a picture of me from my teenage years well into my 20’s. My colleagues sitting in the presentation with me didn’t…
Liam – His Story
Every morning I sense a feeling of guilt, from where this emotion comes from is unknown and at times extremely confusing. My brain seems to try and pull a reason from somewhere, was it an embarrassing moment at work? Did I impulse spend too much money last night? Did I drink too much? Where are my keys? Did I…
Viola: A Survivors Story
My earliest memory of grappling with the concept of suicide occurred when I was 9 years old; the night before my first day back to school after summer break when my mother was in her room stabbing herself in the chest with a ballpoint pen screaming at my father to let her die. Many people…
Stacie: Her Loss in her words
I met Mariangela nearly 9 years ago. I think I remember every detail about our first meeting, because well, its Mariangela, and no one forgets meeting her. I can save the sorted details for another day but for the next 8 or so years we never really interacted but we both watched each other from…
The Faces of Fortitude 