What happens after you survive two suicide attempts? In part II of our chat with Jay Shifman, public speaker and host of the “Choose Your Struggle” podcast, we talk about his road to recovery. Jay describes the days after his unsuccessful attempts to end his life, the time he spent in a hospital, and then a very difficult stretch in a rehab facility. Ultimately, Jay moved in with his Grandma to finally get clean. Jay describes the reaction of friends and family after they learned of Jay’s desire to end his life.  He also describes his decision to finally start talking about his battles with addiction and suicidal thinking. 

Today, Jay continues his work to raise awareness and end the stigma that surrounds mental health and addiction. Years after beginning college, Jay re-enrolled and completed a degree in psychology, in part to understand what was going on in his own brain during his years of struggle. Jay often speaks about one of the missing components in treating addiction and suicidality: compassion. For more on this check out this week’s blog, “What’s Shame Got To Do With It?”