If you need support for yourself or friends, call the NAMI Hotline at 800-950-6264. If you or a loved one is planning to harm his/herself, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or the Crisis Prevention Hotline at 2-1-1.

Fashion icon Kate Spade was found dead today at 55 years old from an apparent suicide, according to the Associated Press.

Drowned, hung, overdosed, etc., these are facts that bring a visual understanding of a suicide but overlook the individual’s privacy. These methods are a choice by those who lose their lives to suicide. With death by suicide in the media, the spread of conversation about this topic continues in waves throughout the internet: Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

Founder of Buddy Project, a non-profit organization that pairs like-minded individuals together with a focus in mental health, Gabby Frost tweeted “Please change ‘committing suicide’ to something along the lines of ‘died by suicide.’ Saying someone ‘commits’ suicide makes it seem like suicide and mental illnesses are a crime. This can make people with suicidal thoughts feel stigmatized and they might not reach out for help.”

Buddy Project also tweeted “If you’re going to talk about suicide, please remember to: say ‘died by suicide’ instead of ‘committed suicide’, not mention the method which someone died by, not share graphic details regarding someone’s death. We all need to talk about suicide in a responsible way.”, with 1,275 likes in less than 3 hours on June 5th, the day of the reporting of Kate Spade’s death.

Frost also tweeted, “please be considerate of the people affected when someone dies by suicide. the way we talk about suicide needs to change; it’s important we talk about suicide in a respectful and responsible way.”

Kate Spade New York Company stated, “We honor all the beauty she brought into this world.”

If you need support for yourself or friends, call the NAMI Hotline at 800-950-6264. If you or a loved one is planning to harm his/herself, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or the Crisis Prevention Hotline at 2-1-1.