Colorado Springs is experiencing a crisis.
We have had 22 teen suicides in El Paso County since December 2015. Last week, our Children’s Ministry Events Director, Lindsay Yochum, wrote a very heartfelt and important response to this very disturbing trend. (If you have not had a chance, take a moment and read her words.)
As I’ve spoken to parents about this, we are experiencing many of the same emotions … frustration, sadness, anger, confusion.
“We don’t know what to do.”
“We don’t know what to say.”
I’ve even started to see numbness around this.
“If I can’t do anything, maybe I’ll just ignore it and hope it goes away.”
We can’t ignore this and hope it doesn’t impact our families. By now, there is a decent chance your child knows at least one person impacted by a recent suicide. This is impacting our families.
We need to talk about this.
That’s why the Pulpit Rock Church Family Ministry Team would like to invite all parents of children and students to join us as we candidly discuss suicide in our community and ways we can work at being responsive and proactive.
Family Ministry Parent Night | Suicide Prevention & Conversations
Sunday, April 23 | 4:00 – 5:30 PM
We recognize that we don’t have the answers to solve the problem, but we do feel it’s important to provide resources and ideas to help us as we navigate parenting our children. I strongly encourage you to clear your calendar and make room for this important conversation.
Please continue to pray for our city’s children, for families impacted by suicide, and for God to move through discussions around this topic.
We see things happening in society that we don’t understand and they impact the way we react and protect our own families. We put up walls around our families and do everything we can to isolate ourselves from society and the problems that we see.
We cannot do that in Colorado Springs.
Our city needs us.
Our children need us.
Let’s start talking.