There is a mental illness support group for almost every psychiatric disorder or abuse. As a person on the receiving end of verbal abuse for years, attending a support group propelled me forward exponentially and I encourage people to locate a support group and attend it. But sometimes, people are intimidated and do not attend. They desperately want the emotional support, but perhaps stepping outside of their comfort zone is too much when added on top of everything else they're experiencing.

We covered suicide prevention last week and the efforts of one organization to reach out to communities across the nation to save lives. But is there anything you can do as an individual to help others deal with their suicide crisis?

Suicide prevention. People talk about it, but is preventing someone from committing suicide really possible? That's a big question. Suicide statistics reveal over 44,000 Americans committed suicide in 2016 and for every completed suicide, there were 25 attempted suicides.1 Unfortunately, the numbers are growing.

Katherine Stone suffered from postpartum OCD after the birth of her first child. With treatment, she made a full recovery and decided to provide pregnant women and new mothers with support and help for postpartum depression and anxiety through her blog, Postpartum Progress. Today, it's the most widely read blog on perinatal mental illness.

On Christmas day ten years ago, Barb Hildebrand became a widow. Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder just one month prior, her husband Rob committed suicide. "My entire world changed in ways I could never have imagined," she says of her life after suicide.

Widowed at 29, during her second pregnancy, Hyla Molander was overwhelmed by grief so profound her body threatened to cease functioning. Hyla survived her most challenging times, at least in part because of the support and love she received. But she also knew she wouldn't recover without finding hope, the most basic and essential of self-help strategies.

Depression and hope are natural enemies. When it comes to recovery from depression, sometimes others have to do the hoping for you. Graeme Cowan survived what his psychiatrist described as the worst depression he ever treated. Graeme says his parents, and the faith they had in him, helped him to eventually overcome the severe depression that nearly ended his life.

For over 15 years, Heather Levin struggled with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression that strikes mainly during the winter months. To help, Heather developed a list of reliable, inexpensive strategies for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

"I felt like I must not love my children enough, otherwise I would be happy to be around them," says Sue Robinson, a California pastry chef turned stay-at-home mom of two kids.  Author of the blog Motherhood and Me, Sue is in treatment for postpartum depression (Editor's Note: Website "Motherhood and me" is under new ownership.)