Global Leadership Network
GLN Staff Writer | globalleadership.orgMother Finds Hope & Direction Through the Summit After Daughter’s Suicide
The Global Leadership Network’s premier two-day leadership event of the year has been held annually in August for the last 25+ years. Recognized as one of the largest leadership events of its kind, The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) brings leaders and aspiring leaders together from around the world. Through the GLS, many of these leaders gain something far more than leadership insights—they find encouragement amid a difficult season and confidence to set out and bring healing to the world.
I was hopeful to attend the Summit and learn from Christian leaders who would help me understand what is possible.
This is what happened when Gina Casner attended the GLS for the first time in 2019 after she lost her daughter to suicide. “My daughter died in April of 2019, around the same time I was just starting to build a real estate business,” Gina shared. “I didn’t know what else to do. So, for the next several months I just worked. I would go to work, and in between clients I’d go home and shut all the windows and live in darkness. I fell into a deep depression. I was drained. That’s when I got invited to attend my first Summit.
“I was burnt out by the time the Summit arrived. At the time, I was searching for a purpose I knew God was calling me to, but didn’t understand the where or the how. I knew I had reached a level of burnout and lack of confidence in myself as a human being, much less as a leader or as God’s child. As a leader it is easy to get burned out because you pour all your time, love, and effort into a project or into others, but there really isn’t someone pouring into you. I was hopeful to attend the Summit and learn from Christian leaders who would help me understand what is possible.”
What happened after Gina attended her first Summit turned her world upside down.
At her first Summit, Gina heard founder and CEO of Sseko, Liz Bohannon speak on her new book Beginners Pluck. She was taken by Liz’s bravery, belief in her cause, and how she put everything on the line to support women. “Hearing Liz talk about her own doubts as well as the faithful steps she took to be obedient in spite of them made me realize I could do the same.
“I remember the night in the hospital with Katie laying there, I made a promise to her that her life wasn’t going to end that way and that I was going to make sure that her life counted for others. It wasn’t until the GLS that I began to see a path as to how I would keep that promise.”
After Liz Bohannon’s talk, Gina made a big decision to do something to honor her daughter and keep a promise she made to her not to let her story end the way it did by supporting others struggling with mental illness. In February 2020, two months away from the one-year anniversary of her daughter’s death, Gina considered giving up.
“Don’t Give Up” Sign Movement Raises Awareness
As a global pandemic began to wreak havoc on the mental health of so many people, Gina realized she had to push through her doubt. “People needed help,” said Gina. So, she got to work. “I ordered 40 signs from the “Don’t Give Up” Signs Movement in hopes I could beg people to put them up to raise awareness.”
But instead of just 40, Gina put up over 350 signs in six different counties in central Pennsylvania. “I just wanted to remind people that they mattered,” said Gina. By June 2020, she knew she wanted to do more. “I felt my daughter’s story could have more impact,” Gina continued. “So, I began to form a nonprofit called Chronically Strong named after part of my daughter’s Instagram handle.”
Katie’s Legacy Impacts Lives
Gina wanted Katie to be remembered for the gentle person she was. “Even during her greatest troubles, Katie always made an effort to help those around her,” said Gina. “Katie was the type of person that was gentle and put others before herself. When she was in 6th grade, Katie asked for a medical dictionary for Christmas and read it cover to cover over the years in her dream to one day be a doctor. God can surprise us in how He can help us achieve our most sincere aspirations; Katie helped dozens of people through organ and tissue donations in her death. She literally gave everything she had to help others and her story continues to help inspire other families walking a similar path.”
Gina Casner with her daughter Katie and son
Gina prayed for months for direction on how to move forward, and by December 2020, she created two journals out of her daughter’s notes and quotes she wrote to inspire herself to keep going while she was in mental hospital placements. But soon facing another impending anniversary, Gina found herself discouraged again. “I had talked myself out of following the calling I believe God had for me,” Gina shared. “But in an attempt to be partially obedient, I gathered a few people to have a meeting to see if Chronically Strong was worth moving forward.”
By May 2021, they had a full-fledged board of directors.
In August 2021, Gina attended the Summit again for another boost of encouragement. “When I heard founder of IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima speak on how she was discounted and underestimated in the cosmetic industry, I could relate,” said Gina. “People doubted my ability to stick with it and pull it off. I either needed to jump in with both feet and be fully obedient, or I needed to admit defeat and walk away. But Jamie’s talk encouraged me, and in the fall of 2021, I enrolled in graduate school to work towards my master’s in clinical mental health counseling so that I can work with a team to offer low-cost counseling to those in need.”
Today, Chronically Strong is a an official 501(c)3 nonprofit!
“It is my passion to help everyone see the value they have as God’s children in a way that the secular world can understand,” Gina shared. “I want each and every person struggling in this world to know they matter, and that God has not forgotten them no matter how deep their pain or how bad their circumstance.”
I want each and every person struggling in this world to know they matter.
At Chronically Strong, Gina and her team believe people grow stronger and become more resilient when the community comes alongside them in love and without judgment. “People who die by suicide do not want to die, they simply want their pain and struggle to end,” said Gina. “They can no longer see hope. So, it is our job as the community to show them the light, and give them a reason to hope again, knowing that we can, and will, stand by them.
“We are on a mission to bring awareness to mental wellness. Unconventionally, we are targeting to create programs that support the families of those with a loved one experiencing a mental health crisis or chronic mental illness. This is a gap I personally experienced for years while my daughter was in and out of treatment.
“For parents with children who are struggling with their mental health, I want them to know it is okay to ask hard questions. If our kids aren’t willing to talk with us, we want to make sure we surround them with a community that will and be persistent. I believe it is important to show our children that we all feel broken sometimes and we need to model healthy ways in which to cope. If we haven’t learned ways to cope, we need to find someone to help the family learn healthy strategies together.“
Vision for the Future of Chronically Strong
With a vision to build a safe place for people of all walks of life, all levels of mental wellness, Gina wants to bring people together to find the gift of loving presence. “I envision that this will be similar to a coffee shop ministry model often used by overseas missionaries,” Gina explained. “This will also be a building that holds all our programs.”
Some of the Chronically Strong programs Gina and her team are dreaming up include a café for the community to come together to discuss their thoughts and feelings around suicide and mental health stigmas. They also plan to start book studies, support groups, community training, suicide prevention programs, and more.
All of this would not have been possible without the encouragement Gina received from attending the GLS. “As I sat through the GLS again in 2021, I knew I needed a fresh perspective to keep going,” Gina shared. “I found greater clarity about the expansive nature of the vision I believe God has given me. The GLS has given me the restart and refresh I needed. Now I have a much clearer picture of what God was birthing through me–unwavering courageous commitment to keep a promise to my daughter to tell her story, be her voice, and to help others who needed a voice too.”
Join Gina and others at The Global Leadership Summit and find out how God might want to encourage you this year. Get Tickets >>
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