'I made it through that darkness': Survival story motivates at-risk youth

CTV News Channel: 'They have value' Winnipeg musician Robb Nash becomes symbol for anti-suicide movement after a horrific crash nearly took his life.

A Manitoba-based musician says he’s hoping to inspire at-risk youth to find their path by tattooing the names of students who have handed him their suicide notes.

Robb Nash is a singer and motivational speaker who has been on a journey to help at-risk youth in schools, on reserves and in detention centres.

Nash knows all too well the hardships the students face today.

At 17, he nearly died after being involved in a head-on collision with a truck in Manitoba. Following the accident, he was found not breathing, and with no pulse.

“My parents got that nasty call that said, ‘Sorry, your son was killed in a car accident today and we’re bringing his body to the hospital.’”

Nash pulled through, but woke from major surgery not knowing who he was.

The first year after the accident, Nash said he was “really bitter,” and didn’t want to live anymore. Slowly he began to recover, and in the process changed the course of his life.

“I made it through that darkness and I wondered, ‘How many other people are out there like me who are going through something dark, considering suicide and they’re not talking about it,” Nash said in an interview with CTV News Channel on Thursday.

Nash decided to tell his stories “so no one had to die, like I did, before they start to live.”

Nash formed a band, called “Live on Arrival,” and signed a record deal, but he decided to rip up the contract so that he could tour schools.

Nash and his current band, Robb Nash, now tour prisons, detention centres, reserves and schools, performing and speaking with students and families about suicide prevention and anti-bullying.

“We’re seeing huge impact because music is such a great way to tell a story,” Nash said.

Often times after a performance, students will approach him to say they were considering suicide. Hundreds across Canada have handed him suicide notes that they had been carrying around with them for months.

They tell Nash that his music has inspired them, and that his words have saved their life.

“So many of these kids, they tattoo the lyrics of our songs on their arms where they used to cut, where they used to insert their needles,” he said.

“That meant so much to me and I thought, if they think I’m so much a part of their life, then I want to show them that they’re that much a part of my life,” Nash said.

Nash had the signatures from the first 120 suicide notes that he received tattooed on his arm.

“I wanted them to see how much they mean to me, that they are important, that they have value,” Nash said.

Now, when he performs, Nash says he shows audiences his tattoos and tells them that youth just like them have survived the darkness, and now “they’re conquering the world around them.”