‘We were absolutely blown to bits’: A son’s suicide, a family’s decision to face the impact openly

“If we don’t want people to die by suicide, we need to start talking about suicide.”

That’s how Betsy Thibaut Stephenson, an Alexandria mother and now an author, sees the topic that, for her family, went from being an abstraction to a shattering reality.

Stephenson is the author of a book titled “Blackbird, A Mother’s Reflections on Grief, Loss, and Life After Suicide.”

She introduces herself in clear, plain language.

“I’m a Virginia mother who lost my son to suicide three years ago,” she told WTOP. “I have committed myself to speaking openly about that loss and what we’ve learned about depression and why it’s important to take this very seriously.”

Her son Charlie was 21 and had finished his third year of university in Texas when he died by suicide.

“We found out that he was struggl