Survivor: Community key to suicide prevention

Emma Benoit was a 16-year-old varsity cheerleader in Dutchtown, La., when she attempted to end her life in 2017, the summer before her senior year.
She survived, but her attempt resulted in a spinal cord injury that paralyzed her.
The challenges she faced while recovering and learning to walk again helped her find faith and purpose and sent her on a mission to use her experience to help others.
Benoit, was at Triton High School on Oct. 8 to participate in a panel discussion on suicide prevention following the showing of a film, “My Ascension,” that tells her story. In addition to the film and panel discussion, a mental health resource fair before the program offered those attending a chance to learn about local resources.
The presentation was sponsored by Minnesota Prairie County Alliance (MNPrairie), Dodge County Public Health, South Country Health Alliance and Aidan’s Light.
A few months after her suicide attempt, Benoit launched liferejuvenated.org and a blog to share her story and her recovery journey. In 2018, she began working on the documentary film that followed her recovery and advocacy work and addressed the youth suicide issue.
She graduated from Dutchtown High School in 2018 and now shares her story at in-person and virtual conferences and events.
In the movie, Benoit explains that for years, she quietly struggled with anxiety and depression but was too ashamed to share her pain with family or friends. The movie tells not only of her recovery struggles but how she used them to connect with others contemplating suicide and their families and friends. She also became involved with the Hope Squad, an organization that uses peer groups to deal with suicide among students.
Following the film, Emma Basness from Dodge County Public Health moderated a panel discussion that included Benoit, Jennifer and Ryan Hegge of Aidan’s Light, and Kari Jacott, Spero’s School-linked Behavior Health (SLBH) therapist in Owatonna.
The Hegges started Aidans’s Light after their 17-year-old son, a student at Kasson-Mantorville High School, died by suicide in 2020. Instead of letting grief consume them, Jennifer Hegge said, they formed a foundation that, through scholarships, school resources and advocacy, would help prevent suicide.
During the panel discussion, which featured questions from the audience, Benoit and others said that it is important for parents and others to focus “on being active listeners.”
As a parent, Jennifer Hegge said, she was used to being able to fix problems for her children. But as they grew older, she said, that was not always possible.
Benoit said the first step for communities is events such as the one at Triton, where residents can learn about suicide prevention.
Ryan Hegge said he believes the community is where to start. Studies show, he said, that most kids believe their community doesn’t support them.
Benoit said the hardest thing after her suicide attempt was realizing the number of people “who would have been affected if I’d been successful.”
An audience member asked what to do when a friend is struggling but doesn’t want help.
“That’s really challenging,” Benoit said. “It’s important to tell a trusted adult.”
If someone says something alarming, said Jacott, it can help to ask “who we can go to together. Take what the friend says seriously.”
Benoit was also asked about the Hope Squad, a student-led, peer-to-peer support program that uses school connectedness to reduce the risk of suicide. Students meet regularly with trained advisors to talk and learn about mental health and are trained to note signs of distress and reach out to their peers.
She said that Hope Squad groups have spread nationwide, and there are groups in Pine Island, Winona, and Houston school districts.