Talking Suicide Awareness with Leah Sampson MSW, LCSW, LCMHC-QS
Originally published October 8, 2024 - Revised on October 14, 2025
As a multi-attempt survivor of suicide, I am always passionate about being open about my own experiences with this important issue. The more we are silent, the more we suffer; communication and connection are everything.
In these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever to talk about our mental health, avoid toxic positivity, and open the dialogue surrounding suicide.
You can find Leah's story below, read how her experiences as a Black Queer Woman impacted her mental health, and continues to inform her work in the mental health field. I hope that you are as touched by her story as I was
If you are in crisis or need additional support, our Crisis Resources can be found here.
Chief of Clinical Operations: CoCo
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Builder of People
Cultivator of Culture and Community
Epic Encourager
Herald of Humility
"I was drowning in shame. I took the pills. I drank a bottle of Captain Morgan’s. I was set in that moment to not be on this earth anymore, to sleep and never wake up. I was alone in my apartment, I did not call anyone because I was embarrassed that I had let myself feel this out of control and also, I didn’t think anyone would care because I didn’t feel like I mattered. I imagine many people have thought something similar as the shame, guilt, and pressure of being excellent has overwhelmed them. I am reflective of the experience I had over 20 years ago as we are bringing attention to Suicide Awareness Month. As a person whose identify falls within all of the marginalized identities: Black, Queer, and Woman; I am struck by recent statistics that have come out about how all of the identities I listed experience higher rates of suicide. We are in the age of everything being on some type of social platform. I misinterpreted that digital access as a means for more connection of likeness and sense of community, which is not wrong, but has also opened the floodgates to be ridiculed and shamed by someone a million miles away behind a computer screen. As much as a post can be liked, I have seen people brutally comment and be highly critical of another’s experience. A person doesn't feel supported in their family or community so in a moment of vulnerability, they share their experience online hoping for a virtual hug/validation and instead receive a punch/invalidation through a comment that reinforces the shame cycle they are currently experiencing.
I have been fighting shame most of my life because I never felt that I was good enough and that my queerness would be accepted by my ultra conservative bourgeois family. That led to a period of suffering with an eating disorder that morphed into high perfectionism and being highly critical of myself, which morphed into the over-functioning and overachieving woman I became. I have obtained all the degrees and certifications in the pursuit of letting go of the shame and replacing shame with wholeness . The morning after my attempt, 20 years ago, I felt like a failure because I woke up. I remember sobbing and asking God to give me a purpose because I couldn’t feel it, see it, or believe it. My purpose did not come to me instantly, it came a few months later when I found out I was pregnant. I am by no means recommending pregnancy as a problem solve to suicidal urges or thoughts but it was mine. We all need at least one anchor in this life, we are blessed if we have several. My son became one of mine.
I have had a brilliant career as a psychotherapist and leader in the mental health space. I believe that my own struggles in the pursuit of wholeness have allowed me to be an authentic and receptive listener to other people’s pain. Human to human is how we heal and that concept has been my north star for supporting others in their journey’s to regain themselves.
I feel charged to use my own experience with suicide, my educational training, and my respect for life to be a part of a solution to an ever growing problem. On a macro level making mental health support more accessible for everyone, developing resources for marginalized identities in schools and places of employment, and educating our law makers on the impact of untreated mental illness could help reduce the rates that these populations have experienced with suicide and suicidal ideation. On a mini/macro level I’d love to see more private practices offering pro bono or reduced rate services to help serve marginalized populations. I’d love to change the graduate level education curriculum that stigmatizes the suicidal client and scares the newbie clinician from wanting to work with someone who is experiencing suicidal urges or thoughts. As a clinical supervisor to provisionally licensed clinicians, I teach them to consider the whole person in their environment, listen, and support the client in making space for big feelings. This advice has led to deeper therapeutic relationships between client and clinician. Relational connectedness reduces suicidal ideation and urges."
I have some tips and things that I have learned over my years of practice that feel important to share:
If someone has enough courage to share with you that they are hurting, listen! One moment of empathy can change the path of someone’s life.
Wanting to experience relief from misery is a very normal feeling. We can learn to experience big feelings without acting on them. Feelings come and go, we can learn to ride the wave of them.
It is not easy to control emotion, it takes practice and support. Emotion is the information that tells our brain that we are human, that we are alive!
Support may not always be with family or friends. Support can come from someone that doesn't have any connection to you but is willing to share space with you.
Our lives are full of opposites; I am familiar with misery because I have experienced great joy. Both are a part of the human experience.
Doing is not the only way you add value to this world. You are more than what you produce.
Human to human is how we heal, there are humans designed to help you when you feel hopeless and alone.
I am fortunate to have made a pivot in my life. It has not come easily. It was filled with many more times of being over my limit and years of therapy.
Hope can feel elusive but it's on the other side of doom!
Find an anchor and if that feels impossible, know that this human sees, hears, and cares about you.
You matter.
