What he did know, he wrote, was that as he drove to the top of the Pell Bridge, he was done with "making decisions in life that caused so much pain in my life to those that I loved." In a post last month, Gonsalves described factors behind his attempt to end his life, writing, "I do not know what came first, my mental illness or my addictive personality that led me to pick up drinking and cocaine." In the state house: RI lawmakers moving on bill sparked by Portsmouth teen's suicide "You feel like you just lost weight after you release, after you tell someone."Īnd "release," he said, is the essence of his new Facebook group - for members and also for him. "Sometimes, just to speak on it, you feel lighter," Gonsalves said. That story, he said, sparked conversations that otherwise might not have happened. He also thought of The Journal's 2019 multimedia story about his suicide jump, " Redemption: The Fall and Rise of Mark Gonsalves," which brought wide attention to suicide and prevention. "I was lying up on my bed, thinking of some other people's pain and what they're going through." Speaking recently under the shade of trees on the northern tip of Goat Island, the Pell Bridge connecting Newport and Jamestown visible behind him, Gonsalves said the idea for the group came to him in the middle of the night. The background: Redemption -the fall and rise of Mark GonsalvesĬreated on June 18, the group soon had nearly 150 members and a cascade of posts, including many by Gonsalves, who knows intimately not only depression and suicidal thoughts, but also addiction, trauma and involvement with the criminal-justice system, issues he also has encouraged members to discuss. Save another life by saving your own life." Sometimes it even causes a chain reaction. Here, people are invited to start "talking freely about your pain" and asked to heed Gonsalves' message: "Suicide is not the answer. And now, Gonsalves has brought his passion for bettering well-being to social media with a public Facebook group, "Open Suicide Discussions: Choose life and talk about what's bothering you."
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