Project aims to open up dialogue about suicide

When Scott Chisholm lost his father to suicide, he felt as though he was left alone to deal with the grief.

Nearly 30 years later, Chisholm’s Collateral Damage project has more than 450 people talking about their experiences with the subject to show everyone that there are people out there to help.

"You don’t get over it like a normal grieving process. It stays with you for a long time," Chisholm, who was 17 when his father committed suicide said. "The questions are always there."

The project, launched in 2009, has stories from celebrities, like Chantal Kreviazuk and Olympian Alex Baumann, discussing their experiences with suicide and the survivors left behind.

"The idea for it had been with me for years we just needed to put a face to suicide and those left behind to get rid of the stigma and create a dialogue," he said. "We have quickly learned that not talking about it isn’t working."

Although it wasn’t Chisholm’s intention to have the project be a preventative tool, several days after it launched a father of four told him that learning about Chisholm’s experience helped him realize how painful it would be to leave a family behind. He chose not to take his own life.

"We can be OK and we know that we will be OK someday," Chisholm said. "Realizing we’re not alone is a big part of that."

Chisholm is now looking for funding to take the project coast-to-coast. From Vancouver to St. John’s, Chisholm said everyone is affected by suicide.

"It is truly a community health problem," he said.

Chisholm said suicide is a difficult thing subject to deal with and people are afraid to talk about it, but getting a dialogue going can help the people who are dealing with it.

"One of the biggest myths about suicide is that if we talk about it it’s going to cause somebody to go do it," Chisholm said.

Chisholm is hoping to release a photo book titled "Collateral Damage: Images of Those Left Behind by Suicide" in 2013.

For more information go to http://leftbehindbysuicide.org/.