Book Addresses Crucial Issues of Mental Health, Suicide Born of Father’s Heartache

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - June 3, 2013 - PRLog -- NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Frank Page, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, offers hope and help from a personal perspective to others whose loved ones have taken their own life in Melissa: A Father’s Lessons from a Daughter’s Suicide.

The book’s June 1 release follows recent national attention given to the topic. USA Today reported, “Baptist leaders (met) in Dallas, Texas, this spring to address mental illness. The meeting was prompted by the Newtown, Conn., shooting and has gained more urgency since the suicide of Matthew Warren, 27-year-old son of California megachurch pastor the Rev. Rick Warren.”

Sharing wrenching statistics on the number of suicides—ninety-one per day in the United States alone—Page candidly says he felt the book might be cathartic after losing his 32-year-old daughter Melissa to suicide in 2009. He later recognized the impact it could have on others.  

“Part of my reason for writing the book was simply that I wanted people to meet her. She was delightful. But I also offer her story for other survivors—loved ones left behind—attempting to cope, understand, and heal.”

Page goes further by addressing those who may be contemplating suicide. Chapters end with a brief letter reaching out to those who feel alone, weak, and broken, believing they have no reason to continue living. He also includes an appendix for pastors ministering to those struggling with suicidal thoughts or recovering from a loved one’s suicide.

“People hear ‘suicide’ and they fill in the blanks. What none of us ever do when we construct quick judgments of others is to capture the whole picture. We fail to take into account the color, the detail, the impressions and nuance, all the things that work together in the life of that person or that decision,” Page says.

“Surrounding any suicide are enough what-ifs and wishes that a person could paper the whole house with them, just with the ones he or she feels responsible for. I’m not over Melissa’s death. I’ll never be over it. But I am on my way through it. Just as there is hope for my family, there is hope for all grieving survivors. We grieve. Oh, how we grieve. But not without His hope.”

B&H Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, is a team of mission-minded people with a passion for taking God’s Word to the world. Because we believe Every Word Matters™ we seek to provide intentional, Bible-centered content that positively impacts the hearts and minds of people, inspiring them to build a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ. Among our print and digital releases for the trade, church, and academic markets, titles include New York Times No. 1 bestsellers The Love Dare and The Vow as well as the award-winning HCSB Study Bible.

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Melissa: A Father’s Lessons from a Daughter’s Suicide (B&H Publishing Group)

By Frank Page with Lawrence Kimbrough

June 1, 2013; trade paper; 978-1-4336-7910-0; $14.99
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