Today we’d like to introduce you to Darian Taylor
Hi Darian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
First of all, thanks for reaching out about my story! I’m a pretty open book so I’m happy to share. My story for how I started Stallions Suicide Support began a few years ago when my dad had a friend unexpectedly pass away. My parents are divorced, but share this mutual friend and my mom had contacted me after the funeral to ask me to reach out to my dad because something seemed off when running into him. When I reached out he was really quiet and short with his answers. It was a short conversation, but I also knew that he wasn’t his normal self. I began visiting him weekly just so I could keep tabs on him and make sure he was alright. We talked about life and he had shared that he wasn’t happy with where he was at in life and wanted a change. He stopped working as a painter and was in limbo. He ended up getting a new job and I would wake up around 3 to 4 in the morning to make sure he would make it to work each day. I honestly did that because I was scared of the possibilities of what could happen to him with how he was acting. The last time I saw my dad was at my son’s 2nd birthday party where we had discussed having him see therapist to see if we can get some answers on how to help. He ended up dying by suicide a week later on Sunday, September 15, 2019. This was the darkest and worst time in my life. I knew from that moment I wanted to find a way to help others who have also been through this tragedy.
At the time, I was my dad’s only adult child so I took on the responsibility of running his estate. In doing that, I ended up completely remodeling his house to ensure that me and my brother were taken care of when the estate was settled. I ended up selling his house in July of 2020. I found that fixing up his house served as closure to everything that had happened. I fell in love with the process of selling his home and decided to join the real estate company that helped me sell his house.
The company I joined does really well, so naturally I started to do pretty well myself when I began to get more involved with mentors and leadership within the organization. This is how the fruition of Stallions Suicide Support started. Yes, I was apart of a real estate company, but they challenged me to take my talents and also use them to help the community. This brings me back to me wanting to help families who have also experienced loss from suicide. I got to work on building Stallions! With the help of my wife Wendy Taylor, my board members Nick Thompson and Jordan Hansen, and my mentors Jace Gillies, Spring Bengtzen, and Justin Nelson they helped me create this organization. They deserve just as much love for where we are at now than me. They inspired me to get this rolling.
I think it’s important that I explain what we do as well. My initiative is to provide support to families affected by suicide. I know of numerous organizations that help with finding treatment and therapy, but I felt we have a lack of support for the families that have recently been through this ordeal. That’s why I decided to start Stallions Suicide Support, boots on the ground if you will.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel I had a really good support system when creating this organization, and so far it has been a smooth road. Stallions Suicide Support has presented me with many opportunities to share my story and relive the trauma I went through and I would say that is my biggest obstacle, reliving everything.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Stallions Suicide Support ?
Stallions Suicide Support is a non-profit organization geared to helping families affected by suicide. What we do is really in the name. We help families affected by suicide. This can be done in a number of different ways; providing financial support to the affected families by helping to pay for funeral expenses, catch up on bills, or really any way we can help them get back on their feet. I’m extremely proud of what we do because I haven’t heard of any organizations who actually sit down and build a relationship and help families after the tragedy has happened. Biggest thing is awareness behind this organization. We are here to help. We just need help spreading the word that we do have this organization in the community willing to help.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It’s not a specific memory, but I’ve always loved sitting and listening to other people’s stories. Even as a child, I enjoyed connecting with others by learning about where and how they grew up, what they enjoy, and what fills their cup.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stallionssuicidesupport.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stallions.s.support?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563885040999
