Suicide Awareness Walk still planned for September

The Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council met virtually Monday and discussed changes to the website and the annual Suicide Awareness Walk.

Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council Vice Chair Amber Spring, who is chair of the Suicide Awareness Coalition, said the coalition is moving forward with its annual awareness walk.

  It is planned for Thursday, Sept. 10, she said.

“We will do the same sort of format that we did last year. The difference is, this year, we were initially going to do tote bags, and we have subsequently decided we’re going to do masks,” she said. “I think we’re going to something simple — solid colored masks with the suicide awareness ribbon on the side or potentially our logo.”

She said she anticipates the numbers of COVID-19 cases to increase, but the walk will still be able to take place with social distancing come September.

“We made the decision not to do anything in the theater or any of those kinds of add-ons. We’ll just kind of keep it as a walk, but we have been discussing like a book club or something like that, that people could sort of participate in virtually,” she added. “... I am going to plan on doing some question, persuade, refer training starting in the month of September, which I will be able to offer virtually.”

Spring said she wanted to change the word “providers” on the Local Advisory Council website resources section Local Mental Health Service Providers listing, where District 4 Human Resources Development Council is listed.

Council Member and Social Worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs Sharon Dolph suggested changing the name from providers to resources.

Council member and Bullhook Community Health Center Behavioral Health Manager Deidre Reiter suggested adding individuals in private practice under the resource guide on the website.

Other wording changes on the website were also discussed.

The next Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council meeting is set for Monday, Aug. 10, at noon.