Today marks the beginning of Queensland Mental Health Week (6-14th October) and to commemorate this important event, and to help raise awareness about mental health, I am giving away my short story, He Opted For Heaven, here on my blog.
In 2014, I lost my cousin Greg to suicide. I will never forget the evening I got the call. I was in the car at the end of my street at Eden’s Landing, on my way to dinner with my fiance’s family.
Later that year I wrote He Opted For Heaven, inspired by my family’s own experience with suicide, and the complex grief that ensues. I entered the story in the Grieve Writing Competition, run by the Hunter Writer’s Centre in Newcastle, and the story was selected and published in the competition’s annual anthology.
Amongst my small circle of family and friends, collectively we know of six suicide tragedies, all the victims being men. From these experiences, I have become passionate about advocating for men’s mental health and suicide prevention. These issues are unique, and deserve individual recognition and support from medical services and the community.
In my writing, I take a particular interest in exploring various human experiences and perspectives, using my writing to help to share people’s stories in the wider community. By sharing this story I aim to help to decrease the stigma around men’s mental health issues, and I hope that you too will be moved to do the same.
Click the link below to download:
He Opted For Heaven by Kate Kelsen
Kate Kelsen 