An intriguing research project that’s looking for first-person accounts of surviving a suicide attempt – if you read their FAQ you’ll see they will accept stories even if no actual attempt was made (phew!). Stories can only be submitted through this website and are completely anonymous. Once submitted, stories may – or may not – be posted on this website… currently there’s about 25 stories out of what appears to be about 180+ that have been submitted. They also may – or may not – be edited by the researchers before getting posted to the website.

http://www.thereasons.ca/

I have mixed feels about this project. On the one hand, I’m excited to see some serious and genuine interest in the first-person accounts of survivors. On the other hand, I’m uncomfortable that you lose all control over your story once you’ve submitted it. But mainly that the subsequent analysis and interpretation of these stories will be done by people with a medical perspective and purpose. We’ll just have to wait and see what they come up with. And hopefully they will make this valuable database of stories available to other researchers for other (non-medical) analysis and interpretation.

But it is another indication that finally, at last, there seems to be some interest emerging among the "experts" for our stories in our own words.