In episode 319 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Caroline Roodhouse.
Caroline is an Internal Communications professional, mother, mental health advocate and Founder of Daddy Blackbird Communications.
Caroline was brought into the world of mental health advocacy when her husband Steve and the father of her two children, tragically took his own life on Monday 12 November 2018.
Steve had no history of prior mental illness and the suicide and the violent method of it turned Caroline and her children’s world upside down.
Broken by grief, Caroline started the journey of putting her life back together, navigate her journey of suicide loss and become a single mother to her two daughters.
She also began her education on suicide and suicidality, which culminated in the publication of her incredible book ‘Daddy Blackbird: The True Story of A Family Surviving and Thriving After Loss by Suicide’ in 2024.
In this episode we talk about the story of how she and Steve met, how they fell in love, and starting a family together.
We talk about the man Steve was, the factors which may have led to his suicide and the day he took his own life.
We explore how this suicide grief affected her mental health, all of the emotions she felt towards Steve, including some natural but stigmatised ones and how she moved forward following his death.
With her two children, Caroline talks about the ‘strength of a triangle’ in representing their family unit now.
We then discuss how she took this grief and channelled it into starting Daddy Blackbird Communications, writing the book and the advocacy work she does now.
We finish by discussing the work she is doing to remove outdated language like ‘committed suicide’ from the Oxford Dictionary and her work with the charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS).
As always, #itsokaytovent
You can purchase a copy of Daddy Blackbird here.
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