“It is better that I am a memory to move on from than a constant worry for the rest of their lives…. It is all my fault, everyone has done the best they can” by Sabrina Josephine Di Lembo on or before 7 August 2017.
Growth Hope Collective Courage from Lived Experience
The loss of my daughter Sabrina to suicide, crushed my soul to the core, shook my family to levels of intense despair. Like what many bereaved parents experience, my entire world became meaningless, full of hopelessness, with little optimism that life would ever be normal again.
I slowly started to become a new me as I didn’t know who the old me was anymore. I lost my self esteem, my motivation to live and experienced suicidal ideations, my identity as a mother and successful career woman as a government Executive.
I spoke out in the media, which I believe in part prompted a Coronial inquest into Sabrina’s death. This did trigger some changes in health practice in the NT, but not enough.
Six years on, life has a new ‘normal’ with grief and sadness still very much a part of my life.
My individual presentation or as a panelist, I would share my experience of transformation to empower others to take action, instill hope, leadership and courage in others.
I would talk about how not even a year after Sabrina’s death, my anger at those that failed Sabrina and the need to keep her memory alive, propelled my grief to embark on a mammoth bicycle ride to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute and awareness of suicide. Coming from an Italian background with a Catholic upbringing where suicide used to be considered a ‘sin’, and someone who took their life ‘crazy’, gave my family determination to do something to reduce the stigma sadly attached to suicide.
Drawing on my passion to help others and to aid my own healing, I daringly established SabrinasReach4Life, with the help of family and friends. I would talk about practical examples of what helped me, give others hope and ideas on what they could consider doing to help them in their bereavement journey, or to drive systemic change. I would talk about SR4L, how I become a suicide prevention advocate, left my highly paid job to pursue my new interests in becoming a Mindset Coach and work in the mental health area.