Aimee's Story
If you have an immediate mental health crisis, please call Colorado Crisis Services at 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. Or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can also chat with the Lifeline.
Aimee Resnick wants other young people to know the path to recovery is not always easy.
The 15-year-old says she first planned to end her life when she was 12.
“My friend group at the time kind of dropped me and told me that I was unacceptable and unlovable in a lot of ways, and that led to me having a lot of issues around my self image and leading to just sense of overwhelm that caused me to feel numb,” Aimee explains.
Aimee’s parents found out about her plan and stopped her. One year later, Aimee says she began having issues with her identity as bisexual. She even lost a friend when she came out. And so Aimee says she attempted suicide again. This time, the police intervened.
“Personally for me, I know that when the police came to my door it was not only scary for me but also my parents,” Aimee says. “And it made me feel hesitant to reach out again to potential supports because I didn’t want the police to come to my house again.”
When she was younger, Aimee felt “unique” in her struggles with suicidal thoughts, like nobody would be able to relate to the feelings and urges she was having. She now understands this is not the case. In fact, Aimee serves on the state of Colorado’s Suicide Prevention Commission helping to lead the Youth-Specific Initiatives Workgroup.
“I realize the value of not only advocating for myself but also other people in terms of mental health,” Aimee says. “And just having an outlet for that really helped me improve.”
Her civic engagement doesn’t end there. Aimee is involved with the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC), as well as the Centennial Youth Commission, where she participates in the policy-making process of her own community.
“Even though working with all these groups helps me have an outlet to try to make things better, progress isn’t linear,” Aimee says.
“It’s not going to get better instantaneously. It’s going to take years and years of work on yourself in order to feel better. But it will happen eventually,” Aimee says. “And you’re not always going to feel that way. One day you’re just going to wake up and you’ll realize that you’re doing better than you were two months ago, or two years ago.”