Soar to Success December 2016

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is a not-for-profit
501 (c) (3) entity devoted to suicide education
and prevention. She relates the successes of
people, who have been to the edge of suicide
and returned to find a purpose and joy in life.
Kristie read a touching story on Facebook
about a woman, who was suicidal, due to an
unbearable recurring pain suffered as the
result of a concussion from an accident. The
woman did not follow through with her suicidal
intention and worked through her issues to find
a purpose for continuing to live. Kristie realized
immediately, she needed to learn more.
As a psychotherapist, she has seen numerous
instances of patients dealing with overwhelming
life situations that seemed impossible to
overcome and had considered suicide. She
felt if she could gather more success stories
of individuals that did not follow through with
their thoughts of suicide and ultimately found a
reason to continue to fight for life, she might be
able to help others.
Kristie reached out to the woman to learn her
entire story. Within minutes after reading that
story, Kristie felt a sense of knowing – that
she needed to learn more! So she posted on
Facebook and asked for stories from people
who also suffered with suicidal thoughts but
overcame them. Within 24 hours, she received 48
responses from people, who came out the other
side of suicidal thoughts and are now living a life
joy. The responses came from around the globe.
Through work she was doing for the non-profit,
Global Sisterhood, she came to understand the
inner workings of non-profits and was inspired
to start her own organization devoted solely to
sharing the stories of former suicidal people
and educating others to choose life, rather than
suicide. By discussing her passion for this subject
with other Global Sisterhood members, she came
up with the idea of iRise Leadership Institute.
iRise Leadership Institute is devoted to relating
the success stories of former suicidal people
through its website: IRise Leadership Institute,
books they have in the works, and the resources
provided there.
Her hope is by sharing each individual story in the
person’s own words, the strength to continue is
highlighted and will inspire others to choose life.
iRise Leadership Institute was formed just last
April and is operating under a nine-member
Board of Directors. They have conducted
fundraisers and launched their first book
project entitled, “Unsung Heroes Deconstructing
SOAR TO SUCCESS / December 2016 / Feature Article