Barb Smith is the founder and facilitator of the Saginaw Survivors of Suicide, which has been supporting families left behind after suicide for the past twenty-five years. Barb has received training and certifications from numerous experts in the field of suicide prevention, intervention, and the aftermath of suicide including Bill Steele, Iris Bolton, AFSP, and AAS. She has been recognized as the “Saginawian” of the year, and in 2003 she received the “Volunteer of the Year Award” from United Way.

Click to tweet: Barb Smith shares her incredible journey on the i’Mpossible Project Show!

Time Stamped Notes

• 1.50 Barb’s brother John took his own life at the age of 20, which led her on a journey to be a suicide prevention and suicide aftercare advocate and trainer
• 2.31 Barb speaks and trains all across the state of Michigan using the Yellow Ribbon program, which is geared toward youth suicide prevention
• 5.20 Initially, Barb channeled the grief of losing her brother to suicide, by helping other people going through a similar loss
• 8.45 In Barb’s professional opinion, one of the most important components in the fight against suicide is actually use the word “suicide”—especially when suspecting a friend or a loved one may be thinking suicidal thoughts
• 9.14 Intervening when someone is thinking of suicide can be positioned similarly to CPR, when one sees a person is short of breath or experiencing physical symptoms we go into “CPR mode” and when we see someone displaying signs of suicidal thinking, we can go into “suicide prevention mode.”
• 12.44 Instead of saying “everything happens for a reason,” when something bad happens, allow yourself and others to find the space to make meaning from the bad and turn it to good
• 22.16 Barb’s favorite word is “hope” and if someone made a film of her life the title role would be played by Linda Carter (find out more fun facts about Barb in the Quick Fire Round)
• 26.30 Barb has 6 grandkids!

Key Points

1. Helping others can give purpose to a painful experience or event
2. Trauma (suicide loss) can change you but it doesn’t have to destroy you
3. With proper training preventing death by suicide can be as straightforward as preventing death using proper CPR training

Resources or Websites Mentioned