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Lions Gate Bridge railings get messages of hope

Vancouver woman led efforts ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day this month
Mindy Reynolds

A Vancouver woman is speaking out about her efforts to post anonymous messages of support and hope on the railings of the Lions Gate Bridge, in an attempt to reach anyone who may be considering suicide.

Earlier this month, Mindi Reynolds, 35, organized a group of friends and family to create about 70 inspirational signs, then attach them with zap straps to the bridge railings just ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10.

The signs contain simple statements like “You are beautiful,” “You are important” and “You are brave to be here. You can survive beyond this place.”

Reynolds said she got the idea after reading about a young woman in England, Page Hunter, who started a similar campaign on the Weymouth Bridge.

“I thought if this young woman can do something, there’s really no reason we can’t make a global movement,” said Reynolds.

“I thought it was important to target that bridge,” said Reynolds, because more people commit suicide by jumping from the Lions Gate Bridge than any other bridge in B.C.

Reynolds said she’s aware of debates that have happened on issues like the possibility of installing suicide barriers on the bridge.

“There’s a lot of jurisdictional rigmarole,” she said. “I thought, ‘I can do this. It doesn’t cost anything.’”

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A laminated message is one of 70 such signs that a group of volunteers affixed to railings along Lions Gate Bridge in advance of World Suicide Prevention Day - photo Cindy Goodman, North Shore News

Reynolds said part of the reason she is passionate about the cause stems from her own struggle with mental health issues when she was younger, which included two suicide attempts, as well as a friend who committed suicide.

Reynolds said when she was in the grip of very dark feelings, “I sometimes felt like I couldn’t be heard. That there was no possible way anyone could understand what I was feeling.”

The messages on the bridge are meant to reach out and tell people that life is worth living and that those feelings of despair aren’t permanent.

“It definitely resonates with me,” said Reynolds. “There’s a lot of stigma behind the topic. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it. It’s important to many of us that the stigma is ended.”

One famous study tracked more than 500 people who were prevented from jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for 30 years, and found 90 per cent of them went on to live normal lives and did not die by suicide.

Reynolds said she and her group were “really trying to be as sensitive as possible” in the messages they posted. Some are gentle and some are more assertive in tone. But all are centred on the idea that every life is important and worthy.

Liz Robbins, distress services co-director with the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of B.C. says she thinks the notes are a wonderful effort to provide a sense of hope to those who may be having suicidal thoughts.

“It shows how invested someone is in providing some help to someone else,” she said.

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Source: photo Cindy Goodman

Often people who are suffering from depression and mental illness struggle with feelings of isolation, she said, “even if they are surrounded by people.”

Six crisis phones on the Lions Gate Bridge connect directly to a crisis hotline at the centre. Since April, there have been six calls from the bridge. The year before that, there were seven calls.

Reynolds says if her notes reach even one person, it will have been worth the effort. “Life is important to me,” she said. “Everyone’s life is important to me.”

Reynolds added she’s hoping to make the creation of the bridge messages an annual event.

 

Crisis help

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call one of the following crisis hotlines, which are staffed around the clock:

Vancouver Coastal Regional Line 604-872-3311

1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433)

310-Mental Health Support (310-6789).

Online crisis help is also available from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily at: youthinbc.com (youth to 24) and crisiscentrechat.ca (adults 25 and up).