Suicide is among leading causes of death in America.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is a voluntary health organization that advocates for those who have been affected by suicide through prevention walks in more than 400 communities nationwide. AFSP is funding 38 new studies that will bring their current investment to $20 million with another 100 ongoing studies.
Efforts are being made to connect practices of AFSP to localized communities and college campuses.
On April 6, the annual Marquette University Out of the Darkness Walk, hosted by the Center for Student Wellness and Health Promotion, took place. The walk started at Ray and Kay Eckstein Commons outside of the AMU and spanned three miles around the perimeter of campus on Kilbourn down Clybourn.
Elizabeth Gnau, AFSP Campus Walk Chair and a sophomore in the College of Nursing, hosted the campus walk and said it was important for students to be aware of the on-campus help that is offered through organizations such as the Wellness Center.
“Suicide touches one in five American families. We hope that by connecting with one another, we will draw attention to this issue and keep other families from experiencing a suicide loss. Our goal is to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide,” Gnau said.
The Wellness Center does programming around the eight dimensions of wellness: physical, intellectual, financial, emotional, social, occupational, spiritual and environmental.
In addition to this, they also do one-on-one peer coaching with students connecting them to on–campus resources along with AFSP.
“We’re saving lives and bringing help to those affected by suicide,” Gnau said.
According to the AFSP, “These events give people the courage to open up about their own connections to the cause, and a platform to create a culture that’s smarter about mental health.”
Gnau said she had known about AFSP for a while after first attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus walk. After learning that Marquette did not have a suicide prevention walk, she decided to reach out to AFSP and bring one here.
“There is a director for the whole state of Wisconsin, and I worked pretty closely with her last year and the whole board of directors. We kind of collaborate and have meetings sometimes too to see what’s going well and I learned a lot from UW Madison because they raised like $50k,” Gnau said.
All donations give back to research and training in suicide prevention and just AFSP distributes $10 wristbands to help build mental health awareness. On walk day, students were given honor beads that represent all different colors that connect to the cause.
The purpose of honor beads is to connect people to the cause and find others who have experienced similar feelings.
All ten colors represent the loss of a loved one, ranging from white to rainbow in honoring the LGBTQ+ Community. Red honors the loss of a spouse or partner, gold for the loss of a parent, orange for a sibling, purple for a relative or friend, silver for first responders/military, green for personal struggles or attempts, teal supports someone who struggles or has attempted and blue supports overall suicide prevention.
Angelina Galullo, Arts & Entertainment Audio Producer and senior in the College of Communication, met with Debbie Contreras-Tadych, licensed psychologist at the Marquette counseling center, to discuss student wellness on campus and what resources are available to aid in mental health wellness.
“We are the mental health clinic on campus. We are free to all full-time students graduate and undergraduate. We can help manage it. Sometimes students think ‘Well I don’t know that the problem is big enough or I don’t want to take a spot from somebody that might need it more.’ I always tell people, ‘If you are feeling distressed, if you have been trying to get through something and you haven’t been able to get through it, come to us,’” Contreras-Tadych said.
During their interview, Contreras-Tadych also identified what “trauma” is, as it can come in many forms for college students. “Trauma is some sort of emotional response to a distressing event. So, it could be one major event or a series of events,” Contreras-Tadych said.
Contreras-Tadych said students can practice wellness at home or in a dorm by doing movement activities since trauma is found to be mostly held in the human body.
“Any sort of movements; via walking, dancing, singing, listening to music, being around others (or) journaling to combat symptoms of trauma because we feel it in our bodies so if we can do things to kind of self soothe those are also really important ways to help heal,” Contreras-Tadych said.
While personal trauma is difficult to deal with alone, it is important to also pay attention to friends’ behaviors who may have experienced traumas of their own.
Contreras-Tadych spoke about some ways people can navigate these kinds of situations.
“I think being patient and understanding. One thing is to be observant. So, if we notice marked changes in a friend’s behavior for example, you know, all of a sudden they don’t want to hang out anymore or they’re making excuses, or we see them being a lot more irritable, or not taking care of themselves right, or they’re drinking, or doing drugs. A lot of changes from their personality before is kind of a red flag,” Contreras-Tadych said.
While dealing with heavy topics such as suicide prevention and trauma, it is important to also be aware of protocols for safe reporting. According to AFSP, when someone calls the national suicide prevention lifeline, they are transferred to a trained counselor who is close to their nearest crisis center. Each center is staffed with volunteers and others are paid staff and mental health professionals.
Although suicide prevention and awareness is not an easy conversation to have, Gnau said she wants to make it known that nobody is ever truly alone.
“You do not have to grieve on your own. You do not have to deal with these heavy things by yourself,” Gnau said.
This story was written by Mimi Sinotte. She can be reached at [email protected].
