Fourteen times Jazz Thornton attempted suicide. He came close to succeeding several of those times, but he survived. Since then, Thornton has grown from a vulnerable teenager to a fierce advocate for suicide prevention and mental health. He starred in the award-winning documentary the girl on the bridgedetailing his mental health problems.
Thornton still struggles, but has found better ways to deal with his problems. In late September 2021, she wrote on Instagram that she was finding it difficult to cope with the effects of an intense therapy session. Rather than let her thoughts get out of control, as the teenage version of herself would have done, she called her friends and “let the emotions dissipate.”
Jazz’s feelings of loneliness triggered her suicidal thoughts.
Jazz Thornton was sexually abused as a child by two different men. The trauma of these events was bottled up inside her, transforming her into a dull, emotionless girl. Jazz experienced sexual assault again as she aged, which further deepened her sense of worthlessness. She said Daily Mail Australia:
“I thought that I was a burden on everyone around me and that I would never see a better life. Eventually it turned into self-hatred. I was hiding behind layers of masks I had put on over the years and in doing so, I would never let anyone see the real me, because if I couldn’t love myself, how could anyone else?
The first time Jazz tried to take her own life, she panicked after starting to feel dizzy. She ran to her mother, who rushed her daughter to the hospital. The next eight years she made another 13 suicide attempts. Thornton wrote in mom is at the table who saw death as the only option:
“People often ask me if I really wanted to die every time I was suicidal and the honest answer is no. When I was younger, I was suicidal due to external situations and things that had happened to me, and suicide attempts were often motivated by thoughts like: ‘I don’t want to die, but I can’t go on living like that and like that. this seems to be the only option.’”
Every time she received help from a loved one, she felt like a burden. Jazz convinced herself that the others would be better off without her. She felt lonely and isolated, as she couldn’t ask for help without feeling guilty.
Jazz recovered by dropping her shields and letting those closest to her support her. Thornton feared they would leave, but to her surprise, they stayed. “At first, I didn’t know why they hadn’t left,” Jazz said. Daily Mail Australia. she also said mom is at the table:
“This was difficult, because leaving them [her friends] to this extent it means that I still spent a lot of time terrified that they would just up and leave. Every time I trusted them a little more, I put myself at greater risk of being hurt. But let me tell you this: they’re all still here.”
Jazz would love to meet the man who found her unconscious and called the emergency services.
Two of the fourteen suicide attempts stand out from the rest: the first involved a month-long hospitalization and the second, a well-timed intervention by a stranger on a bicycle.
Jazz remembers writing a suicide note, driving into a bush, and waking up in the hospital. Jazz’s life was saved by a man who decided to leave the track with his bike and took him to his location. Thornton told him Daily Mail Australia:
“A random person who decided to ride a bike off-road found me just as I was slipping into unconsciousness. I ended up staying in the hospital for quite a while and not a single person in the world knew about it. In fact, it was a complete miracle that I am still alive, as the doctor said that if they had left me much longer, I would have died.”
Thornton told him Stuff that she was initially angry when she woke up in the hospital because she thought she had finally managed to end her life. “She was shocked by my situation and didn’t think there was hope,” she said.
However, now she is grateful for the man who saved her life. Jazz caught a glimpse of the man as she walked away, but she can’t remember much about him other than that he’s European and middle-aged. jazz talked to Stuff on her likely reaction if she met the man:
“I would probably cry to be honest. She would just tell him how grateful I am to be alive. Tell him about the lives I have to impact because of it. But she would probably apologize to me too because I think it would be quite traumatic to find someone unconscious.”
Jazz feels the New Zealand government must do more to support mental health
Jazz Thornton is doing her part in spreading mental health awareness. He has written two books: Stop Surviving Start Fighting about his life and my journey starts here about improving well-being. She is also a co-founder of the charity voices of hope along with fellow activist Genevieve Mora.
However, Thornton feels the New Zealand government is not doing enough to raise awareness about mental health. jazz said 1News for the government to censor stories about mental health, discrediting people’s experiences. She explained:
“Many decisions are being made in our Ministry [of Health] that silences people. But my question is, what is the danger of not talking about it? What I’ve consistently seen are these big announcements that come along and give people hope, and then there’s no follow-up. We’re seeing it over and over again.”
Thornton Documentary, the girl on the bridge, criticized the government for its insufficient support for mental health awareness. After the film’s release, government-funded mental health organizations withdrew their support for the project fearing a backlash from the Ministry of Health, Thornton said.
“[It] it scared our Ministry because they don’t like to be criticized,” Jazz said. The Office of Suicide Prevention issued a statement stating that it refused to endorse the film because the producers failed to comply with public safety guidelines. The statement said:
“Based on international evidence and clinical experience, the Office for Suicide Prevention felt that there were public safety concerns that needed to be addressed and was unable to offer support as producers could not guarantee that support persons would be available at all the projections”.
Days before Jazz’s indictment, Mental Health Foundation director Shaun Robinson claimed the government had tried to silence him after criticizing the Ministry for a lack of action. Robinson claimed that the government implied it would withdraw the funds if Shaun did not back down.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn