Survivors of Suicide Closes, Impact Mental Health Opens

 By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday October 23, the Survivors of Suicide, probably the best known depression support group in Second Life, had it's last meeting. It was a week before in which it's leader and owner of it's sim, Sebastien Bouevier, announced that the group would soon be closing. Sebastien cited a need to focus more on real-life and no one else stepping forward whom could run the group for long.

The meeting started at 3 SL time. The various people there thanked the others for helping them through difficult times, some telling detailed stories. There were also a few lines in group chat. Among them, "... we are just starting a new chapter, not closing the book."

Sebastien himself would only speak near the end:

"Hearing all your stories tonight has been very touching, and has really hit home just how much of a difference SOS has made to so many lives over the past 13 years. I hope you will continue to be there for each other and keep the spirit of SOS going for years to come. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to be a part of this. I love you all."

The meeting ended at 4PM, and people began to slowly leave, some TPing out, others getting one last look at the island. Shortly after came the dreading DING! and screen shaking signaling a sim restart countdown. But logging back on, I was in a different sim, and was unable to teleport back to the Survivors of Suicide sim. It was closed. I was also no longer able to check the group for any chat messages. 

While the Survivors of Suicide group may be gone, another was started to take it's place: Impact Mental Health by Kitten Stratten-Jaks (Kitten Meridoc). 

We know this is a sad time for many of you, but we'd like to extend a heartfelt welcome to all of our new members.

This week, the focus is on SOS and saying goodbye and so Impact may be quieter than we expect it to become. We're also working on populating the group, so please have a little patience.

In the mean time, keep an eye out for notices about our opening day! We're really excited to show you what we're putting together for you guys.

Welcome to Impact our new warriors.

The group soon had a location, on Urban Dream, and an opening event was planned for Sunday October 24.

Join us for the Grand Opening of Impact Mental Health; a Peer Support group right here in Second Life. Offering Information, Mentoring, Group Chat and Support Meetings throughout the week. Come visit our brand new location. The Impact Community are here and we're listening.

The event, hosted by Sherridon Mercury,  was scheduled to start at Noon SL time. But people were arriving early. Dropping by, I was complemented about my appearance. She confirmed about the group being created in response to the closing of the SoS, "we wanted to give the people some support and some familiarity after that news." 

We were next to the main building. Besides Kitten and Sherridon, there were six mentors as group staff. Sherridon was greeting people, "Hello and welcome to all those just joining us, we will be kicking off our celebrations with a liver performance from Ugly Bill at the top of the hour! In the meantime, feel free to get acquainted with our new land and new organization!."

Eventually, Noon approached, and people were invited to head to the dance area in a nearby part of the sim. "Ugly Bill" soon got on stage and started performing while the audience danced away.  "We're so thrilled to have you here at the grand opening of Impact Mental Health!" people were told as they arrived.

Besides that many were at the party, the Impact group chat also saw a lot of chatter that day. Some would talk about their real-life issues. Others would say they were happy and relieved there was still a mental health support group for them.

There are also other mental health support groups around in Second Life. And someone messaged me in IM that she was starting still another. So for those who know where to look, mental health support groups are still around.

It's been spoken before that the only thing that's constant is that there is change. And in a virtual world, even more so. A valued mental health support group has closed after thirteen years. But in it's place, a new one has arisen, one that has had a good start.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

The Last Sunbeamer Moon Dance For 2021

 By Bixyl Shuftan

Team Sunbeamers has had a number of events this Relay season. But one was a weekly event, the Sunbeamer Moon Dance that took place every Thursday at 6PM over Farshore Field in Sunlight Bay. People would head over to the Moon Cannon, and get blasted off to the Moon platform where music and fun awaited (along with a few 'bot aliens dancing away). But eventually, there would come a time for a final performance. And on Thursday June 10 came the final Moon Dance for the Sunbeamers, at least for this year.

Most of the weekly dances had various themes, such as Memorial Day and sci-fi. But this last one was "Come As You Are." A number of Sunbeamers showed up, as well as some from other Relay teams. This included several of "Roos With A Dream," noted by their Australian outdoor outfits.  The maximum number of avatars the sim could hold was thirty, and there was a time or two someone couldn't get in. 

As usual, Cynthia Farshore was DJing, though adding tunes as she went along instead of playing a prepared list. Someone cheered when "Golden Years" was played, "David Bowie, yay!" Sunbeamer team captain reminded, "We have a memorial to Bowie in out camp, died of liver cancer." Of the camp having the theme of a British comedy, she commented, "I told my sister our camp was Monty Python themed.  she said 'Who?'" 

Other conversation topics were a small debate if music past the 1980s was any good: one didn't think so and a few others felt at least some of it was, "there are lots of good tunes every year, we just don't hear lots of them." There was also talk about the "Last Dragon," movie, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and the Star Trek "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode. Cynthia responded by playing Shockwave Yareach's music parody, "I Snuck In A Tribble With You." That got some people chuckling. There was also some talk of the Animated Star Trek episode.

With the Relay weekend so close, there was much conversation about it. "I always get emotional when the actual Relay starts. even though I have been doing it since 2008." "The Luminaria ceremony gets to me the most." "I completely forgot I had submitted a dedication to be read the first time I did it. Caught me completely off guard when they read it off and I broke down hard." 

There was also some fun talk about partying people did in the past, "Threw an unexpected party at my house once while my parents were away. Was my friend's birthday and he was hanging out with a bunch of younger kids so me and another friend told him we were headed to my house after picking up some beer. About an hour later, a million people show up. Only trouble I got in from my parents was that I didn't recycle the cans. Was still underage at the time, think it was either the summer before going to college or the summer after my first year of college. No idea how I didn't get in trouble." "I went to a party at a farm once, real BBQ pit, roasting half a pig and various beef, also beer kegs and we mixed up something interesting in a clean plastic trash can. Whatever we mixed up was good, I had it to my van to pass out and woke up with one hell of a hangover." "The wildest parties are always while you're underage."

At one point, there was a small square area in which light inside had it's colors reversed. Inside it, at least when looking from outside, white would look dark, reddish tones would look bluish, etc. Panning inside, from within things looked the opposite, including the blackness of space looking white.

A good time was had by all, one lady saying, "Its been a lot of fun hanging out with 'beamers, gems and Purple Tears all season long." Rita responded, "Well we 'beamers specialize in fun. If it's not fun, it's not worth doing." She would say joint events with the Roos had always gone well, and fun, and congratulated them on their success. They'd made Diamond rank some time earlier, and had raised a total of 1,783,000 Linden dollars.

Before long, the party was over, and people headed out. Shockwave and Cynthia would go back to the Sunbeamer campsite to check things over. All were looking forward to the Relay weekend in two days.

As of the writing of this article, the Sunbeamers have raised a total of 834,500 Linden dollars, and are the highest rank of the Sapphire-ranked teams.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan