Mental health has been talked about worldwide as more and more issues arise and suicide numbers continue to climb. 

On Sept. 6, Carson Molle and his Mom (Amber Molle) and his Dad (Matt Molle) came to the high school auditorium to talk about mental health and share their story in a talk sponsored by the district and the HOPE Squad of DPHS. 

During Covid-19, Carson, who attended local Seymour High School, was struggling with his mental health and had the idea that maybe by telling his story he could help others who were feeling the same way. He decided to post a short one-minute clip telling his story, and to his surprise it went viral. 

A school in Nebraska saw his post and asked him to speak at their school. The news got out, and many different schools around the area began reaching out to Carson about coming to speak to the students and staff. 

Carson and his parents go to different schools to talk about his experience and hopefully break the stigma of suicide. Their main goal was to instill a sense of hope in as many people as they could and to share their experience. 

Kennedy Baumgart, a member of the De Pere HOPE Squad said, “With our loss last year, I think that it was important to bring somebody in who shared a new perspective and talked about mental health and how it should be something that we can break the stigma with and talk about it without shame.”

At just 14, Carson Molle attempted suicide. Prior to his suicide attempt, Carson was a regular kid who enjoyed playing football, hanging out with his friends, and watching movies.

Carson had been battling with his mental health for many years but never had expressed the way he was feeling. He shares that his first remembrance of any anxiety or depression was at age 10. This is when his strong feelings of not being good enough for his friends, family, and teammates began.  

The thought that he expressed the most was, “Everyone and everything would be better without me.” 

He continued to talk about how that singular thought caused the 6-to-8 hours prior to his suicide attempt to spiral out of control. He describes his thoughts after completing the act as, “The plan was not to live, but I obviously lived for a reason.” 

He then began his “fight to live” and had countless surgeries. Now, when he tells his story, he talks about how he felt and how nice it would have been to know that he wasn’t alone. 

“Something that many people don’t realize is how fast it can happen,” Carson said. He reiterated that he had never thought about suicide prior to the hours leading up to his attempt.

Shortly after his attempt, Carson found out that those thoughts were the exact opposite of reality. In fact, he stated, “The first thing that my parents said to me when I apologized was, ‘We Forgive You’.”

Currently, Carson attends UW-Oshkosh for film. He continues his love for sports by staying up to date on the latest sports news and is currently working on writing a book about his story. 

Carson ended his speech by saying, “You are not alone in how you feel, and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.”