Speaking
Fearlessly Always
Welcome to my blog!
This is the space where I share professional insights, personal stories, creative writing, and day-to-day reflections. My writing chronicles my living experiences and acts as a place where I can personally offer you professional expertise and best practice ideas.
I hope you will join my journey and stay in touch!
❤️
SUSIE 수지
I forget people exist. Not always, but a lot.
I can’t tell anyone. I definitely can’t tell the people I love. They would find me callous and cold. I've heard that a lot over the years. They would assume they understand, but they would only see the surface and not the substance underneath. They wouldn't look at the pain it causes me to acknowledge this.
I used a bad word.
It will upset some.
The bad word shouldn't be read or said. But that doesn't stop it from existing.
My not saying the word doesn't make it less true. It doesn't change the fact that many have been taken for granted, tossed aside, or dismissed beyond the parts of them that were deemed useful. "We," the lived experience community, have sometimes outlived our use in professional spaces.
[Content Warning: this post shares an intimate view of the author’s experience of suicide. It could be interpreted as glamorization. The post is intended to highlight the complex nature of […]
Hush, child. You didn’t see me sweep you under the rug with the blunt-side of a paddle. You didn’t think it was anything but to be expected. You aren’t to […]
I used to give people so many chances. Chances to show up. Chances to care. Chances to treat me like I had always been told people should treat one another. […]
I was nice to you, But then you followed me. Down each aisle, as I quietly perused The canned goods and dairy options. I saw you from the […]
The United States continues to be significantly impacted by suicide death despite years of attention, efforts and development. Death by suicide and attempts have increased over 30% since 2001 with pronounced increases among young children and people of color. Tremendous effort and insight across many government agencies has been put into a newly released National Strategy on Suicide Prevention and accompanying Federal Work Plan. Among the significant changes in this document compared with former Plans is extensive reference to people with lived experiences of suicide and a clear emphasis on equity and inclusion. In addition several contributing authors to the document are experts who also bring lived experience of suicide intensity and attempts.
Don’t put my Dad on your agenda. He isn’t a line item or 20-minute session. more days than you could even count. Don’t put my Dad on your agenda. He […]
I was asked to write a blog for the new international resource the Lived Experience Advisory Directory. LEAD connects the Lived and Living Experience workforce with opportunity, knowledge, and support […]
To be honest, my experiences speaking were rather unpleasant the first several goes of it. I know I’ve said this recently, but it bears repeating. I mean, I spoke. People […]
Leadership comes in many forms. From being a role model to those younger in their journeys to being a work supervisor. In lived experience, leadership often goes hand in hand […]
( Felt led to write this today, please note there are mentions of death and brief allusions to multiple forms suicide loss. ) You don’t know where you are. You can’t […]