No red flags: Kippens mother tells story of son's suicide
CBC News | Posted: September 23, 2015 7:30 AM | Last Updated: September 23, 2015
Ian MacArthur was known as the person who could be trusted with personal problems and even talked a friend out of committing suicide, but nearly three months ago the 19-year-old Kippens man took his own life.
Gina MacArthur, Ian's mother, was in St. John's on Canada Day when she became worried after not hearing from her son for an entire day.
"I messaged some friends of his and asked if they knew if he was working and they said no, that he had been unreachable and they hadn't been able to find him either and that they were starting to get worried," MacArthur told the Corner Brook Morning Show.
RCMP officers located MacArthur in the garage of the family's home in Kippens. He had killed himself.
By all accounts, MacArthur appeared to be a happy, normal young man who was looking forward to buying a new car and getting accepted into college.
"If we look back now, you might be able to say, well those were kind of hallmarks of what was going to happen," Gina MacArthur said, referring to her son's suicide.
"But he had friends over on Saturday night for the fire in the backyard, they talked about college, they talked about what they were going to do in the fall."
Familiar story
Ian MacArthur was even a trained peer counsellor and had talked a friend out of committing suicide in the past, his mom said.
She is now encouraging parents to "take every opportunity to make sure [their children] understand they are important and they are loved," she said.
Heidi Edgar, CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador's chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said it's not unusual for families to miss the signs that a loved one might be suicidal.
"Some people look back and they had no idea," Edgar said. "There was nothing to really indicate that person was struggling in any way."
Edgar said stigma contributes to struggling people keeping their feelings to themselves.
There is a 24-hour mental health crisis line available to anyone who is struggling with mental health or thinking about suicide. The number to call is 1-888-737-4668.
Corrections:- A previous version of this story stated the family's home was located in Stephenville. In fact, the family's home is in nearby Kippens. September 23, 2015 5:22 PM