# @chrisyandle on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DdC9eyeMEIH
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70325028-chrisyandle-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/86f6ba1524.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-09T00:30:38.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Chris Yandle, Ph.D. (@ChrisYandle) — https://gondola.cc/ChrisYandle

## Caption

On #988day, I was invited to speak during the cityofzachary City Council meeting to share my story and #mentalhealth advocacy.

(apologies for the Blair Witch style video)

I have worked in communications and public relations for more than 20 years. While I love what I do, my industry has one of the worst mental health rates in the world. I’ve spent my career helping others find the right words in hard moments. Tonight, I’m not here in a professional role. I’m here as a husband, a father, a namisoutheastlouisiana and mental health advocate, and someone who believes local government has a real role to play in a crisis that too often gets treated as a private family matter instead of a public health issue.

Mental health does not discriminate. 

In fact, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for children, teens, and young adults, ages 10-34.

In 2024, 654 people in Louisiana died by suicide — a rate of 14.1 per 100,000 residents, roughly 3 percent higher than the national rate. 48,824 people in this country died by suicide in 2024. Men account for nearly 80 percent of those deaths, dying by suicide at a rate roughly four times higher than women.

I first thought about suicide in high school. I was 16 and a junior at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma. I didn’t have language for it then — I don’t think most teenagers do. I was told to “smile more” or “be more positive” or to “just get over it.” But it wasn’t until 2013 and 2014 that I could feel myself slipping, really slipping, in a way I couldn’t talk myself out of. Two years later, I lost my job and my family lost everything.

I marked that moment with a simple semicolon tattoo on my left wrist.

Visibility is not the whole solution, but it is often the first step toward one.

#dadlunchnotes #suicideprevention #mentalhealth

## Stats

- **Views:** 472
- **Likes:** 33
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

dadlunchnotes, suicideprevention, mentalhealth, 988day

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