The S Word

25 West Main Avenue,Spokane WA 99201

10 September, 2021

Description

The S Word is the story of a woman's mission to find fellow survivors and document their stories of unguarded courage, insight and humor. From the creative team behind the award-winning OF TWO MINDS comes a new film that tackles one of the most unfathomable and cloistered issues of our time… Suicide. Suicide has affected DESE’RAE STAGE since she can remember. When she was very young, a family friend died by suicide. When she was a teenager, one of her friends died by suicide. When she was 23, she attempted suicide. The years that followed included college, a move to New York and a growing love for photography – all through cycles of loneliness and depression. Then, she realized there were so many questions from her past that could potentially be addressed using her camera. To find the answers, she sought out other suicide attempt survivors. Back then, attempt survivors were silent, anonymous, reduced to stereotypes and statistics. Dese’Rae wanted to show the world that suicide is not an affliction of the other—it affects people of all ages, races, faiths, ethnicities, gender presentations, sexual orientations, professions, and so much more. She created a project called LiveThroughThis.org, which explores life on the other side of suicide through the stories of attempt survivors, in their own words, and the portraits Dese’Rae creates of them after they share those stories. As Dese’Rae seeks out attempt survivors to share their stories with the world, we travel the country to meet them. FailSafe for Life is non-profit organization with the mission to end suicide in the Spokane area. We aspire to achieve this through education, instilling hope, and connecting communities. As part of this endeavor, we offer “Saturation Training” or basic education to the key gatekeepers laid out in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention along with any other interested party. We also offer advanced level training for helping professions or those whowould be providing emergency and/or ongoing care.