Walking to end suicide
SLIPPERY ROCK — It felt like a long walk for Alice Vlasnik to honor the people of Slippery Rock who died by suicide in 2020, but she was finally able to memorialize them and other victims of suicide on Sunday, April 23.
More than 120 people took part in the Out of the Darkness Walk on Sunday afternoon on Slippery Rock University’s campus, which Vlasnik had been trying to organize with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention since spring 2020. Vlasnik, the co-chair of the event, said she hopes to see the event continue in years to come.
“We had lost several students to suicide. That kind of sparked my whole, ‘I want to do this, I want to spread awareness about this,’” said Vlasnik, who is also in SRU’s graduate program for occupational therapy. “It’s amazing to see it come together.”
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention organizes campus Out of the Darkness Walks to give college students and the surrounding communities ways to memorialize people lost to suicide.
Jesse Putkoski, area director of Western Pennsylvania for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the campus events in particular are designed to get young people involved with mental health awareness.
“It's designed to engage people and bring awareness to mental health and suicide prevention,” Putkoski said. “We walk anywhere from a mile-and-a-half to three miles; it's just to raise awareness for the cause.”
Putkoski said there were a few virtual events organized with the AFSP since Vlasnik started talks with the foundation in 2020, but Sunday was the first time the walk took place physically at SRU.
Taking place on the quad, the registration hour for the walk saw participants talk with one another, don beads whose colors symbolized a person’s relationship to suicide and write the names of suicide victims on buttons to honor their names.
Kaitlyn Crawford, a junior social work major at SRU, co-chaired the event. She said she wanted to get involved with suicide prevention in part because of her major, but also because she has friends who have struggled with negative mental health conditions.
“I think mental health is super important to talk about,” Crawford said. “I really hope this spreads the word that you’re not alone.”
Crawford also said many of the fundraising teams for the event were university clubs and fraternities and sororities. The number one fundraising team was Alpha Xi Delta, which raised $505, giving its members the chance to lead the walk around campus.
Putkoski said money raised through the walk is used to bring suicide prevention programs to communities around the state. She also said the foundation aims to decrease the suicide rate by 20% nationwide by 2025, and bringing the conversation to the community is one step of doing that. According to data from the AFSP, 45,979 people died by suicide in 2020.
“We work to save lives by finding hope and having community conversations because we are convinced that talk saves lives,” Putkoski said in a speech at the walk. “Suicide, which is a leading cause of death in the United States, can’t be ignored. Suicide is a health issue that affects us all.”
Following the speeches by Putkoski, Crawford and Vlasnik, the walkers began making their way around Slippery Rock University’s campus.
Vlasnik urged everyone at the event to take care of one another.
“The biggest thing is knowing you guys have each other,” Vlasnik said. “You are not alone, and you guys don’t have to suffer in silence.
“Just reaching out to your friends, loved ones, checking in on them... A, ‘Hey, how are you doing,’ text can mean the world to someone.”
