Small-town suicide
![](https://canadianmennonite.org/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_thumb/public/blogs/%5Buser%5D/Brandi-FT-phototiny_1.jpg?itok=z14wi0ky)
I wrote this story two years ago, and since then another suicide has occurred and been mourned, in a neighbouring community. That man I did know. To remember both of these men who left behind wives, children, even grandchildren, today I publish it. Let’s learn how to handle mental illness in the church in a way that embraces rather than isolates.
It is with a heavy heart that I write today, and even now I debated sharing this. I do so because I believe that the story I am about to share is one with a lesson that we, the Mennonite church, need to learn.