I wasn't always a hollow shell of a man.
From the opening line of Surviving Suicide.
Before the camera, there was the stage and the gym. David played football, competed in gymnastics, won drama awards and went to college for acting. He started coaching gymnastics at fourteen, and bought his first camera to photograph his athletes. Friends started asking for photos. Then came fashion, boudoir, and a magazine credit.
He's also trained dogs, hosted weddings, driven for Uber, and taught himself to farm. Jack of all trades, and better for it.
Trained actor, former gymnastics coach, dog trainer, self-taught farmer, mental health advocate.
"There's a weird silence at rock bottom."Chapter II, The Bottom
Then the ground gave way. Depression arrived quietly and stayed. Months of waiting for a doctor to listen, medications that made things worse before they got better, and a stretch where the only thing that got him outside was his dog.
In the middle of it, he met Rachelle, an actress and singer with a laugh that forced a smile out of him. She was a mental health advocate who lived with depression too. On the bad days, she was beside him.
To stay sane, he started an online channel called Chilling with Schilling. Rachelle was one of his first guests.
David lost Rachelle to suicide. Her last written words to him are now tattooed on his left arm: You are love.
"Photography used to be a huge passion of mine, so having it back in my life gives me strength."Chapter VIII, New Purpose
The way back was slow. He MC'd an evening in Rachelle's honour that raised more than $5,000 for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He started speaking openly about his own mental health. And he asked a friend to photograph him for a mental health shoot, edited the photos himself, and shared them.
People asked to shoot with him. The camera came back.
Since 2024 he calls what he does confidence-based photography: finding where someone's self-doubt lives, and working through it with them, at their pace.
"If I can reach one person, just help one person off the ledge, my life has meaning again."
Surviving Suicide is David's memoir: written from inside depression, through losing Rachelle, and toward a life with purpose.
If you're struggling, you're not alone. Call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, any hour, anywhere in Canada.