Time to speak out

Before this year, Billy Bromberg had never had a discussion with his children about suicide. 

That changed in his nephew’s final hours of life. Bromberg and his children, ages 17, 21 and 23, were in the hospital waiting as 23-year-old Keenon’s body fought to survive. It had been just hours since Keenon took measures to end his life.

In these moments in the hospital, Bromberg realized that what had previously been a statistic was now hitting home. It was time to bring an issue that he said many people in the community don’t want to talk about into the light, he thought. The first step for him, though, was a conversation with his children in the hospital.

Keenon, a Mountain Brook High School graduate, had been working for his uncle and dad’s business, John-William Jeweller, part-time while he was in school. Every Friday night, Keenon, his uncle and cousin went to the movies. He liked to play the role of film critic. But the more time Bromberg spent with Keenon, the more he noticed Keenon changing.

“I observed he was having trouble adjusting, but I did not become alarmed enough,” Bromberg said. “Looking back, I did not take the action as I should have.”

Bromberg’s revelation of hindsight is what members of a new group named Aware hope to remove from the community. 

In February, a group of Mountain Brook parents came together to form a group to address suicide awareness and its multifaceted roots. Aware’s mission is that “not one more in our community is lost due to substance abuse, depression, struggles, despair or suicide.” Thus far, the group has hosted professionals and community members to speak about suicide, depression and other related topics.

As one of the group’s members and first speakers, Lulu Wilson Null hopes that through Aware’s efforts, parents and children will be better equipped to act when someone close to them shows signs of mental illness. She wants people to talk about it. She wants people to get help.

“You cannot ingrain enough the signs and symptoms to parents,” she said.

After years of battling depression and bipolar disorder, the Mountain Brook mom of four decided to speak publicly about her experience for the first time in March through blogging at lulunull13.wordpress.com.

“I was ashamed, I had never told my friends,” she said. “So many people are suffering, and they don’t know where to go. They don’t want to tell their spouse, and they don’t want to tell their friends. Everyone is supposed to be happy all the time.”

Null said the response to her blog posts has been phenomenal. For her, talking is a way to take out the stigma so people want to ask for help and get issues such as hers out in the open. She hopes others will open up, too.

“In this community, we are all trying to be perfect and keep up, and everyone is hurting inside,” she said. “We want people to know they are not alone.”

Aware leaders including Bromberg are seeking to connect people to resources that can help those who are suffering.

Bromberg said he wants people to come out to learn about warning signs of not just suicide but also all the issues that can lead to it. He said there are answers about how to cope. 

“At least if they could get the information, they will be armed and prepared to spot [these signs] and take action that I would have done if I had had [this information],” Bromberg said. “I think [Aware] will be successful if the community says, ‘We want to hear this,’ and they come out to hear our speakers who have stories and information.” 

To learn more about Aware, find the group on Facebook. The group is planning workshop-style events for this summer.