The first ‘Out Of The Darkness Walk’ for Michiana was Saturday, September 7 at Oxbow County Park in Dunlap. The walk was put on in connection with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention or AFSP.
Michiana ‘Out Of The Darkness’ Walk Chair, Stephen Gray, spoke about how the process got started. “About a year ago friend, unfortunately, died by suicide, and that’s what really got the ball rolling for this walk. The walk attracted plenty of people as $9,400 was raised for the AFSP. The money will be used to work with local schools to create programs that will focus on mental health and suicide prevention.
There were many people there hope to make a difference in raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention. Walk participants, Jenny Wilson and Deb Holcomb, had this to say about awareness. “Awareness is important because it helps you find people you can talk to, it’ll help get other people to look for signs you may have missed.” “It’s nothing you have to do by yourself, never, you never have to do it by yourself. Find somebody, anybody because in turn they’ll find somebody else, and they’ll find somebody else, and that’s the awareness program.”
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is looking to drop the rate of deaths by suicide twenty percent by 2025 with their program 20 by 2025. If you are interested in learning more about AFSP you can go to their website at afsp.org.
