MACON, Ga. — Lots of central Georgians struggle with mental health problems.
With three months left in 2024, Bibb County has had almost as many deaths by suicide as the county experienced in all of 2023.
According to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones, there was a total of 25 people who died by suicide in 2023. He says more men committed suicide than women.
"Everybody that takes their lives are not mentally unstable or mentally unfit," Jones said. "They are caught up in the moment and they think that that's the only way out."
For Heaven Smith, in 2013, she was a new mom and went over the edge.
"I had freshly broken my ankle for the first time," Smith said. "And then after that postpartum kind of set in because you throw your mental health, your physical health after having a baby, and then you hurt yourself on top of everything."
Smith said her mental and physical health deteriorated. She says she was also in an abusive relationship at the time and that wasn't making the situation better. She says she made the decision to end her life.
"I felt like my family was better off without me," Smith said. "If I'm dead, so-and-so will be happier, and the baby will go to a rich family and have all the stuff he needs."
Smith was found unresponsive and was taken to the hospital. Doctors told her family her body was shutting down and to start saying their goodbyes before a miracle happened.
"Seven days later, my organs started working. I started to breathe on my own and my liver was working and all that stuff that was shut down started to work again," Smith said. "And still to this day, I look back and I go, 'Wow, I pulled through that.'"
Smith wasn't the only person who went through a dark time. Jones did too.
"I flunked the state boards for paramedics five times and never passed it. And the last time I took the test I made a 74," Jones said. "I needed one point to be a paramedic. I got depressed and I was suicidal. It was a very dark moment in my life and I was gonna pull the trigger."
Jones says he believes people who take their life are not mentally unstable.
"They are caught up in the moment and they think that that's the only way out," Jones said.
Jones said he feels for those who have lost loved ones to suicide because someone close to him died, too. He says his faith helped him.
"God brought me out of that darkness and people say, 'Get over it,'" Jones said. "But you just don't get over it."
Smith says she is in therapy and now has four beautiful children. She says anyone who needs help should call the suicide hotline.
If you or a loved one needs help, call or text Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.