Mom shares story of teen daughter’s suicide — and why it’s important to speak up (CW: Suicide)

Mom shares story of teen daughter’s suicide — and why it’s important to speak up (CW: Suicide)

Posted on July 16, 2020

Tiera Hopkins loved to dance and was a fun-loving vibrant teen, said her mother, Jenny Morales. In 2012, at the age of 16, Tiera died of suicide. Morales’ grief still feels overwhelming, but she has become an advocate for destigmatizing mental health in teenagers and encouraging parents and teens to talk about it. Often people feel afraid to discuss suicide because they worry they’ll put that idea in someone’s head. But Dr. Ken Duckworth, CMO at NAMI, said that’s not true. “Mentioning suicide does not activate a new idea within people," he told TODAY. “You do not put suicide in someone’s head.” Duckworth said many survivors of suicide feel guilty that they didn’t notice a sign or didn’t do something and he wants them to know that a loved one’s suicide is not their fault. “It is valuable for parents to talk about suicide with their teens and to be really candid about it, and maybe even directly ask them how they’re feeling,” Duckworth said.