Delaware County Suicide Prevention Awareness Website

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Outreach to youth and the homeless highlighted this year’s DCSPATF 5k Run/Walk to raise community awareness of suicide prevention

Media PA -– Over 180 people attended the 3rd Annual 5k Run/Walk on May 3, 2008, joining the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force to help raise community awareness about suicide prevention. This year’s event, held at Ridley Creek State Park, featured a timekeeper for runners who wanted to pick up the pace, competing to win the race or striving to run their personal best. For those who preferred a slightly slower pace, the walk provided the opportunity for pleasant conversation and a chance to admire the scenery, while still getting plenty of exercise.

Donated food and drinks were appreciated by all, both before and after the race. Event sponsors manned tables where they provided literature on suicide prevention and other mental health information. The large group appeared unified in their support of the purpose of the event, to increase awareness about suicide as a preventable community health problem. Most were wearing the T-shirts they received at registration, with “Let’s Talk About It” written across the front.

This picture on this year’s T-shirt was designed by Shaelyn Small, who was the first winner of the DCSPATF poster contest. The contest took place during the spring as part of an outreach effort by the Task Force to involve more youth in the promotion of suicide awareness and prevention. Each contestant offered a unique way to “talk” about suicide prevention through the terrific artwork they created.

Many individuals donated a pair of unworn shoes in a symbolic gesture to remember those who died by suicide. “Today we walked for our loved ones who cannot walk beside us anymore”, said Linda Falasco, who lost her brother to suicide. Representing the Task Force and the Survivors of Suicide support group, she presented the Community Action Agency with dozens of new shoes to distribute to four local homeless shelters, adding that giving these shoes to others in need was “one way to keep alive the memories of loved ones and have others walk for them.”

The Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force is grateful to the many people who contributed in making this event a huge success, especially the 183 men, women and children who participated in this 5kRun/Walk. Special thanks to Tim Krueger and Run The Day and to volunteers Megan Beam, staff members from Child Guidance Resource Centers, students from Penncrest and Garnett Valley High Schools, and Rick Heaverly from Compass Training and Consulting, LLC., and to the event sponsors for their generous donations.

Event Sponsors - Amy Powell & Family, Aston Beverage, Barnaby’s of America, Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, Catholic Social Services, Child Guidance Resource Centers, Clifton Heights Beer Distributors, Colleen & Rick Heaverly, Compass Training & Consulting, LLC, Crozer-Keystone Health System, Danielle Simonian & Family, D’Ignazio’s Towne House, Dunkin Donuts, Eileen Sharkey, Elwyn, Empower Youth, Giant Food Stores, Holcomb Behavioral Health System, John Young, Julie Uhlein, Katherine Rose, Magellan Behavioral Health, Maggie & Antonio Pruett-Saratan, Main Line Health Behavioral Health, Marie Thompson, McGowan Family, Michael Ewing, NAMI Delaware County Chapter, Noreen Friel, Pace One Restaurant, Panera Bread, Peace of Pizza, Pepperidge Farm Outlets, Philly Pretzel Factory, Pyramid Healthcare, Secured Benefits Group, LLC, Starbucks, Surgery Center of PA., Survivors of Suicide, Inc., T. Frank McCall’s, Taylor Rental, Trader Joes, and Wawa.

Three area students selected as winners
of the 2008 DCSPATF Poster Contest.

Shaelyn Small
1st Place

Elisa Libetti
2nd Place

Lance Checchia
3rd Place

Youth from Delaware County, PA were invited to enter their original designs in the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force 2008 Poster Contest. Among the great artwork submitted, 3 winners were selected. Shaelyn Small was awarded 1st Place, Elisa Libetti received 2nd place, and Lance Checchia’s drawing was selected as the 3rd place winner. The artwork of 1st place winner, Shaelyn Small, appeared on the T-shirts given to all participants in this year’s 3rd Annual Delaware County Suicide Prevention Awareness 5k Run/Walk, held Saturday, May 3rd at Ridley Creek State Park, Media, PA. The Poster Contest provided a way to involve area youth in the effort to raise awareness of suicide in the community. The Task Force thanks all the participants for the outstanding designs submitted and their personal efforts to help raise awareness for the prevention of suicide.

Let’s Talk About It:
Survivors of Suicide Loss Panel Share Feelings on Presentation

The audience of over two-hundred attending DCSPATF’s November 2007 Conference was genuinely moved during a panel presentation in which individuals shared personal stories of their struggles after the death of a loved one by suicide. For many Conference attendees, this was an eye-opening and deeply appreciated opportunity to gain insight into the challenges and complicated grief that accompany a suicide loss. The moderator and panel members had presented panel discussions to audiences made up of other survivors, but never to the general public. They hoped by reaching a wider audience they could increase the understanding of suicide and suicide loss.

The Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force extends it’s gratitude to the panel participants for their contribution to the success of the Conference and wishes to recognize the personal strength and courage it took to talk publicly about the private pain they have experienced. We also thank each individual for the following accounts of the difficulties and rewards they experienced in giving that presentation.

● ● ● In Our Own Voice ● ● ●

MARYELLEN (as Moderator): A special presentation was held at the Symposium on November 15th at the Villanova Conference Center. Survivors of Suicide held a panel discussion with survivors who lost a loved one to suicide. Represented was Tony, loss of a Son; Gail, loss of a Spouse; Sue, loss of a Son; Linda, loss of a Sibling. As Director of the Survivors of Suicide Support Groups, I was asked to moderate the Panel. I too lost a Son to suicide. We normally do this type of Panel discussion at the Survivors Seminars that are attended primarily by other Survivors. We knew this would be emotionally draining for us but we felt we needed to let people know the complexities of the grief from a suicide loss.
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Signs aim to break silence on suicide and help save lives

BY GARRY LENTON
The Harrisburg Patriot-News
1/21/08

The message on the billboard off northbound Interstate 83 is simple and grim: Suicide kills more people than homicide and HIV/AIDS combined.

It's part of a $25,000 public awareness campaign that the sponsor hopes will focus more attention on a condition that quietly claims...è Read More

Suicide Prevention and Mental Health
FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY IN 2007 è Read More

PENNSYLVANIA
State Legislation and Policy Update, FY2008:
Suicide Prevention and Mental Health

Bill# SR 48
Summary
A Resolution recognizing youth mental illness and suicide as a public health crisis and encouraging evidence-based initiatives to screen children and adolescents for mental disorders in order to identify illness and prevent suicide among youths.
Sponsors Jane Clare Orie, Jay Costa, Lisa Boscola, Raphael Musto, Edwin Erickson, Stewart Greenleaf, John Pippy, Shirley Kitchen, Connie Williams, Mike Stack, Christine Tartaglione and John Rafferty
Status Introduced on 03/12/07.

Bill# SCR 204
Summary
A Resolution directing the Joint State Government Commission to establish a task force to enlist the help of knowledgeable persons to develop educational materials to identify elderly persons at risk for suicide and to identify barriers and ways to surmount barriers encountered by professionals and nonprofessionals in connecting at-risk persons with appropriate resources..
Sponsors Jane Clare Orie, Jay Costa, Lisa Boscola, Edwin Erickson, Connie Williams, Mike Stack, LeAnna Washington, James Rhoades, Patrick Browne, John Wozniak and John Rafferty
Status Introduced on 11/02/07.

Source: Suicide Prevention Network USA, November 30, 2007

DCSPATF’s First Full-Day Conference on Suicide Prevention
a Huge Success

Suicide:
A Community-Wide Health Problem
Let’s Talk About it!

Radnor, PA - On Thursday, November 15, 2007, over 200 attendees gathered at the Villanova Conference Center for the Fourth Annual Regional Symposium on Suicide Prevention, sponsored by the Delaware County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force. The conference theme, Suicide: A Community-Wide Health Problem - Let’s Talk About it! , was chosen to highlight the number of suicides that occur in Delaware County and surrounding areas each year and to emphasize that effective suicide prevention must begin at the...Read More