In the August Author Spotlight ...
Coach Doug Merrill, author of
Fighting the Demon of Suicide

Imagine not only losing two of your closest childhood friends to suicide, but years later losing eight more students to the "demon" of suicide. High scholl basketball coach and former teacher Doug Merrill has gone through just that. In his new book, Fighting the Demon of Suicide, Coach Merrill shares his personal experiences in the hope of helping others face this demon.

As a child, one of Coach Merrill's neighbors committed suicide. A few years later when in high school, his best friend killed himself, followed a week later by his ex-girlfriend taking her own life. Over the next 20 years as Merrill coached high school baseball, eight students there have killed themselves and at least three others have tried to do so. “The story was the same, the faces just changed,” Merrill said

Fighting the Demon of Suicide began as a journal of thought. "After the last suicide took place, I just started to write down some thoughts of times that I recalled when I was younger. Before I knew it, I was three chapters into the past and about three chapters in the present," Merrill says. He then showed his journal to his school librarian. "She said 'You really should try to publish this'. The book just evolved from there."

Fighting the Demon of Suicide is a triumphant story about how to prevent, defeat, and conquer the mental demons that haunt everyone at one point in their life and what every young student encounters during their high school years across the nation. In addition, Coach Merrill lends his experience area of mental illness by giving his readers a ten point plan on winning their war against the demon.

"When a community goes through something as tragic as suicide, your natural tendency is not to talk about it," Coach Merrill explains. "There's a thought that if you don't talk about it, you won't put that thought into anyone else's head. I've always found that unbelievable. This book is my way of trying to prevent future suicides and let young people know that you are not the only ones going through something like this. I have the opportunity to use this book to do something positive not only for young people locally, but all over the country."

Coach Merrill is planning a run from Boston, Massachusetts to Key West Florida to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. "I plan on running 12 miles a day for 8 days, then taking a day off, and so on," he says, "I will also stop along the way to speak at as many college campuses and communities as possible." He is also donating all his proceeds from Fighting the Demon of Suicide to the American Suicide Prevention Foundation and the Jason Foundation. Coach Merrill is actively seeking corporation sponsors for his run. For more information, please contact him at dougamerrill@netscape.net.

Coach Merrill has been married for over 12 years. They have two children, a 9 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. The family lived in Bowing Green, Ohio, where Doug continues to coach high school baseball at Bowling Green High School.

To purchase your copy of Fighting the Demon of Suicide,
visit http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/02182.htm

For more information on Coach Doug Merrill,
please visit his web site at http://www.coachmerrill.com/

Coach Merrill is also a public speaker on the issue of suicide.
For more information or to contact Doug, email him at dougamerrill@netscape.net.

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