OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, Fla. — You never think it will happen to you, but an Okeechobee mother learned it can happen to anyone.
Katrina’s daughter tried to commit suicide last spring, and thankfully, survived.
Now, Katrina is on a mission to talk to more teens and support families impacted by suicide or attempted suicide.
“I don’t want anybody to experience what we went through. And unfortunately, every day, there are,” Katrina said.
8-months after her daughter’s suicide attempt, Katrina says a lot has changed.
“She’s doing therapy. She’s doing excellent. She’s excelling. She’s right back to being herself,” Katrina said.
WPTV first introduced you to Katrina last spring, after she posted a more than 10-minute video to her Facebook explaining what happened, and how her family stopped the suicide attempt in time to save their teen.
It was part of a suicide pact the school district and sheriff’s office discovered.
“Talk to your kids, tell them they have to speak up, they have to. 5 kids, 4 including my daughter, had a plan to do this,” Katrina said on the video.
She said her daughter showed no signs of wanting to hurt herself. The only sign they could have had, Katrina said, was someone speaking up who suspected she might harm herself.
“She even told us 'mom, dad, I made sure there were no signs',” Katrina explained.
The video ended up getting global reach, with many people reaching out to Katrina.
“Quite a few of them were telling me thank you for saving their life and or their child's life by watching the video,” Katrina said.
She has since talked other teens out of committing suicide, one just a few weeks ago.
“I texted with this young lady for over an hour and by the end of it, she was good.”
She realized so many people were turning to her because they didn’t know where else to go.
That is why she is now working on starting a foundation called POSK, an acronym for Parents of Suicidal Kids.
She knows parents need a lot of support when dealing with suicide or attempted suicide. Not everyone was kind to Katrina’s family when they were trying to heal.
“I've had people call us bad parents, tell us do a better job of parenting,” Katrina said.
Through her foundation, she hopes to be able to provide financial support to families who need to take time off of work to be with their child. She knows some parents are too afraid to leave their children alone.
She also wants to provide assistance for paying for therapy, and just a place to offer advice.
Most of all, she wants people to keep talking.
"The more people talk about it, kids and adults, the less taboo it will be."
If you want to reach out to Katrina or know someone you’d like her to reach out to, you can message her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/katrina.vandiver