Interview with Judy Collins on Suicide and Loss
I am honored to have been joined by a true legend in Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Judy Collins. We talked primarily about the ups and downs of emotional life, particularly given her experience of the catastrophic loss of her son Clark to suicide in 1992. She shares generously how she was able to survive such detestation, even managing to feel deeply close with her son in an ongoing way all these years later. As Judy wisely puts it, death ends a life, but not a relationship.
Our time together highlights the preciousness of time and connection and the importance of knowing there is a way out, as suicide is so often a choice that comes out of feeling no way out. She shares her experience of making a suicide attempt, herself, when she was fourteen and facing the potential disappointment of her father.
One of the most remarkable things about Judy’s way of surviving her son’s suicide was her ability to reach out to others for support and finding an ability to connect to what she termed ‘the gifts of catastrophic loss’. As she has done so many times musically, she turned the experiences of her heart into something beautiful and to be treasured. I am so grateful to her for taking time with me and bearing her heart and soul on this very important issue as we work to promote suicide prevention.