Kansas City,
01
December
2020
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10:36 AM
America/Chicago

KSHB 41: Kansas City moms start group text after losing children to suicide

By Jordan Betts

 A group of women throughout Kansas City have found solace in a group text as they all have one thing in common: losing a child to suicide.

One of those moms is Jennifer Padgett, who now has to use her memories to remember her son Luke.

"When you have a group of moms, when they understand you when you say I just want to lay down next to my child, that's all I want to do," Padgett said. "They get it."

She connected with a group text called Moms Stand Together.

"It started that fall of 2017," Sylvia Harrell said. Harrell helped form the group after she too lost her son Chad to suicide.

She found hope and comfort from other moms who understood her grief, because it was theirs too.

"What started as six moms in July 2017 is now at 33 moms," Harrell said. 

Doctors at Children's Mercy Hospital said they always see an increase in teens with suicidal thoughts in the fall. Now there is a new threat: school during a pandemic.

"When you have social isolation and you don't have connection to your regular groups, that can have a detrimental impact on young people," Dr. Shayla Sullivant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Children's Mercy Hospital said.

For these local moms, the connection afforded by the group chat can be a lifeline.

 

See the full story via KSHB 41

Learn more about Mental Health in Children and Adolescents