A huge crowd packed the PMAC at LSU to hear from some of the university’s biggest names in sports.
According to the CDC, suicide is the third leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 10 to 24, and the seond leading cause of death for adolescents in Louisiana. Events like “Planting Seeds of Hope” are just one of the steps healthcare professionals say can help break the stigma associated with seeking help.
A huge crowd packed the PMAC at LSU to hear from some of the university’s biggest names in sports.
“If this were to happen five or six years ago, you probably wouldn’t have had a packed room like this,” said former LSU football player Kevin Faulk.
They weren’t talking about wins or losses, or even games, but instead talked about issues of suicide and mental health, with some sharing their own deeply personal struggles.
“Ugh man, I was in my dorm room taking pills, and I was drinking red berry Cîroc for like seven days straight just hoping I’d die,” former LSU football player Delvin Breaux shared with the crowd.
The panel allowed themselves to be vulnerable, connecting with the whole audience without fear or judgment. The audience was allowed to ask questions, and the answers that followed were real and honest — all with the intention of normalizing conversations about mental health issues. It’s a topic many people don’t want to talk about, but sometimes may need to.
“I’m a super routine-oriented person. I love a routine and something that I can always go back to, even when things around me feel really chaotic, and so I definitely make therapy a part of that,” said former LSU Gymnast Ashley Gnat.
“For me, my struggle started when I was 14. I didn’t tell anybody. I had my first suicidal thought as a freshman in high school. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I felt alone, and I didn’t want to be here,” Brandon Saho, creator of “The Mental Game” podcast, said.
Monday night’s event that was put on by LSU Athletics and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital was hosted by Jordan and Lisa Tabor with the “Rain Will Bring Flowers Foundation,” who recently lost their 15-year-old son to suicide last April. It was also supported by Joe Burrow’s parents, Jimmy and Robin, with the “Joe Burrow Foundation.”
“If anything that one of us said or somebody heard tonight that can help someone identify somebody with mental health problems, then it was worth it,” Jimmy Burrow said.
“I have never actually heard of an event like this ever. So, I think the more that we can do it, the more that we can talk about mental health, the closer we get to ending this stigma, so I think it’s very important,” Gnat added.
Folks with various mental health resource groups set up stations for anyone to seek help or learn more about steps they can take to get to a better place with their mental health.
