SUICIDE & CRISIS HELP - If you or someone you know needs support call or text 988
About Ozzys Warriors...
I want to share with you just a little about why I feel and know there is a need for Ozzys Warriors, how the family dog (Ozzy) and a pinky swear changed the course of both my nursing career and the trajectory of our family. Ozzys Warriors is named after the best therapist we could have asked for and the warrior that lived and fought for my children.
I was the lucky mom chosen to adopt these two little girls at the time ages 5/7 (now 23/25) for reference. I was clueless to the amount of joy and love that these two beautiful beings could create to fill my heart and soul. If I had ever doubted the love the three of us shared and the bonds we had created, I never doubted those again after three of the toughest years I could ever imagine.
My youngest (pictured above) went through some rough times, they both did. My oldest is a highly functioning autistic young lady in high school, and then college when this battle was being fought. My youngest struggled with many things and found a way through the emotional pain by cutting. Physical pain was easier, and she hated feelings she once told me. Years later I finally understood exactly what she meant and agreed on the feelings part occasionally, when I was trying to understand my own about the attempted suicides and continued cutting regardless of how much I begged, pleated and tried to bribe her to stop.
Our Mission
Ozzy’s Warriors Network LLC is a mental health advocacy organization dedicated to raising awareness about suicide prevention for children and individuals of all ages. Our mission is to support those who have attempted suicide, along with their families and friends, by providing essential resources and guidance.
Our Approach
As an LLC, we are committed to bridging the gap between awareness and action by offering professional training to schools, educators, and organizations. Our programs equip them with the skills to recognize warning signs and effectively support individuals who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts. Additionally, we provide education and support for parents and families, helping them navigate the challenges of supporting their loved ones.
Lasting Impact
Our purpose is to foster understanding, reduce stigma and equip communities with the tools needed to create safe and supported environments for children and people at risk. Through our comprehensive programs and resources, Ozzys Warriors LLC strives to make a lasting impact on the lives of children and families, promoting hope, resilience, and healing.
A previous suicide attempt is one of the strongest risk factors for suicide. Studies show that 25-50% of individuals who die by suicide have a history of previous attempts.
(continued...About Ozzys Warriors)
Physical pain through cutting was her coping skill, it was my nemesis. There is little heartbreak worse than being unable to stop your child from letting her feelings out through cutting or by trying to take her own life. The only thing worse I can think of is
burying your child because their attempt became their death.
I was flooded with thoughts of all the ways I thought I had let them down, hurt them, never intentionally but there were so many things I missed, how was that possible I was an active mom, pediatric nurse, knew I worked in healthcare which remains to many degrees a broken system and yet I “allowed” my child to feel this amount of pain and didn’t see the cutting in time to avoid attempts of suicide and later hospitalizations.
We all three lost friends of many years, family members and so much more because of the lack of understanding related to mental illness, and no its not for attention and no you can’t beat it out of her (all things that happened to or was said to us plus so much more).
This became a battle fought and won by the three of us (a lot of the time) a battlefield of sorts with moving boundaries, no rulebook and certainly no substitutions. Ozzy our dog played the biggest part in my family’s recovery more than I realized until he passed several years ago, but not before, he had loved, been loved, done his duty, his job and when he had gotten us all through the toughest part and her graduation he crossed the rainbow bridge, and I am sure is waiting for us there. I would bet at least some of you have gone or are going through versions of what my family went through.
That’s why Ozzys Warriors exists - To be a safe place or a safe group of people sharing remarkably similar experiences that only people who have lived or are living in this crisis can understand. This safe place is where we can all support, cry and most importantly listen to you because sometimes you need to speak to people who can just listen, where there are no explanations of feelings required, or definitions of words that shouldn’t be used to describe our children, friends and family members.
Sometimes just knowing that in this world if only one person knows exactly what you are feeling because they still are or have felt the same pain then you are not as alone as you may feel. I couldn’t find that when I looked and I needed a safe place to be, so I created that safe space where you can be supported, maybe learn or teach something that will help all of us who are mirrored in experiences related by versions or self-harm
and attempt suicide by our friends, family or kids.
Sharon
Sharon “Skippy” Driskell, BSN
Ozzys Warriors LLC
