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Lived Experience Academy – Promoting and Supporting Post-Suicidal Growth

I'm glad you're here.

Welcome to the Lived Experience Academy.

In crisis now? Please call - 800-273-8255 - the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

How can you get from hurting to healing after a suicidal crisis?

Are you still hurting even though you've survived a suicidal crisis? There are pathways to healing and recovery. You can even go beyond recovery. You can learn from a suicidal experience, improving your life and helping others. 

You can do this...

and you don't have to do it alone.

This educational site is designed to help you recover after getting through a suicidal crisis, and then support your journey toward a new life. Decades of research, training, and personal experience have been applied to pave the way for your recovery and growth. However, the Academy does not provide treatment.

Your life is valuable. Recovery and growth start with your safety.

If you're currently in crisis, then the information here isn't going to be as useful as it will be later. At the moment, you'll get more out of talking with a trained counselor who is available 24/7 to listen, provide support, and get you help. That's what a local crisis center can provide for you. Learn more at the Lifeline website.

Now then... What happens after crisis counseling? What do you do after leaving the hospital or emergency room? 

That's where this Lived Experience Academy can help. You don't have to figure it out alone.

Finding Stable Ground

Healing and Recovery

  • stable ground
  • healing and recovery

You can find stable ground after a crisis is over.

Let's keep going but you'll also find two resources right here in case you need help.

Why the pinecones and trees? The giant sequoia tree represents the amazing growth that can happen after a crisis.

The seedcones for some of the largest trees on earth most often open after a fire.

Most plants grow best without a fire, but there are some that sprout after everything has burned away.

Where are you on your path to Recovery and Growth?

Let's talk about "Post-Suicidal Growth" - the type of personal growth that can happen following recovery from a suicidal crisis.

The pathway used at the Academy involves 5 stages. The first two are Stabilizing and Recovery:

  • Stage 1: Stabilize - During a crisis everything might seem out of control, so finding stable footing is the first step toward life after a suicidal crisis.
  • Stage 2: Recover - After finding stable ground you can start putting the pieces of your life back together, from day-to-day basics through support in the community. This is where healing takes place.

Post-Suicidal Growth involves going beyond that initial level of recovery, learning from suicidal experience, and changing your life with that knowledge (see the Stages below).

When you're ready for Post-Suicidal Growth: Advanced Stages

At the Lived Experience Academy we pursue post-suicidal growth by learning and applying information from the three stages that can follow after healing and recovery:

  • Stage 3: Reflect - you're increasing self-awareness by understanding your suicidal crisis and how it developed 
  • Stage 4: Learn - you're gaining new skills and improve your strategies for countering suicidal thoughts and feelings
  • Stage 5: Grow - you're applying knowledge and insights from suicidal experience to improve your life and the lives of others

Here we're developing information, resources, and guidance from the suicide attempt survivor who developed the path used here - Dr. DeQuincy Lezine. There's a strong commitment to helping everyone who joins this path toward Post-Suicidal Growth, and the website is evolving in response to community needs.

In crisis now? 

Copyright 2019

by Prevention Communities