Spectrum News 1
Cuyahoga Falls High School students wrote positive messages on clothespins before distributing them during lunch to fellow students as an act of encouragement. It’s for a campaign with Sources of Strength, which is an evidence-based wellness program focused on suicide prevention.
“So, I think the whole point of this program is to encourage people to keep trying, keep working, keep going, because there is outside help always,” Aloisi said.
Aloisi is proud to be part of this new group as a Peer Leader.
“I think everyone deserves to have a positive friend or mentor in their life and knowing that I have some myself, I want to do it for other people,” she said.
Fox 10 Phoenix
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/calls-texts-and-chats-pouring-into-new-988-mental-health-helpline
When Jamieson Brill answers a crisis call from a Spanish speaker on the newly launched national 988 mental health helpline, he rarely mentions the word suicide, or “suicidio”
Brill, whose family hails from Puerto Rico, knows that just discussing the term in some Spanish-speaking cultures is so frowned upon that many callers are too scared to even admit that they’re calling for themselves.
“However strong stigma around mental health concerns is in English-speaking cultures, in Spanish-speaking cultures it is triple that,” said Brill, who helps people navigate mental health crises from a tiny brick building tucked away in Hyattsville, Maryland.
NBC4i
https://www.nbc4i.com/daytime-columbus/a-journey-from-abuse-despair-to-healing-inspiration/
Coping with one extreme trauma is difficult enough. Dealing with a lifetime of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse can understandably assault a person’s mental well being. Summerlee Godbolt is here to share her journey, while advocating for the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
The Columbus Dispatch
Amid the worst months of her husband’s rapid mental health decline, Julie Leonard recalls waking up most mornings thinking one thing: “What fresh hell awaits?”
It was a time marked by uncertainty and anguish, the potential for tragedy looming each day until the proverbial bomb Leonard had long dreaded went off. Her husband, Steve, died by suicide in 2008 at the age of 40, leaving Leonard and the couple’s three young children in Cincinnati left to pick up the pieces of their family’s shattered life.
Now, those four words Leonard contemplated daily — ”What fresh hell awaits?” — serve as the title of the first of three ceramic art pieces she created to reflect on the final days of her husband’s life, and the journey of grief it set her upon. Beginning with the depiction of a grenade, the series ends on a more-hopeful note now that Leonard has transformed that pain into a powerful artistic statement.
NBC4i
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/how-gun-shops-are-trying-to-reduce-suicide-by-firearm/
A first-of-its-kind statewide campaign is partnering with a unique sector to end suicide: gun owners in Ohio.
About 10 gun shops across the state have partnered with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF) to launch Life Side Ohio – a “groundbreaking” awareness campaign aimed at putting politics aside to curtail suicides by firearm, according to OSPF Executive Director Tony Coder.
NBC4i
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/mental-health-or-substance-abuse-crisis-call-988/
Ohio’s new 988 number for those experiencing mental health or addiction crises is up and running.
Launched on Saturday, Ohioans dealing with a mental health or substance abuse emergency can now dial or text 988 to get connected with a licensed counselor — a move aimed at expanding access to care while eliminating the hassle of punching in, and remembering, the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number.
“This is just going to be eventually as ubiquitous as 911,” said Stacey Frohnapfel-Hasson, bureau chief of the Office of Prevention at the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (ODMHAS).
The statewide transition to 988 comes about a month after the Ohio House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to align the Buckeye State with a federal mandate requiring phone service providers to direct 988 calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16.
NBC4i
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/dont-suffer-in-silence-resources-to-prevent-suicide/
Ohio mental health specialists are reminding everyone you are not alone.
The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation says one of the best ways to prevent suicide is to understand the signs and remind your loved ones you’re there for support.
Executive Director Tony Coder said their goal is simple — save lives.
NBC4i
9-8-8 will soon become Ohio’s go-to number for mental health crises, all while attempting to divert care from cops to counselors. Beginning July 16, Ohioans dealing with a mental health or substance abuse emergency can dial or text 988 to get connected with a counselor – a move aimed at expanding care while eliminating the hassle of punching in, and remembering, the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number.
NBC4i
June is Pride Month and the local LGBTQ+ community is shining a light on a serious issue many people face: suicide.
The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation is hosting a webinar.
Leaders there said suicide stems mainly from minority stress such as discrimination, harassment, and rejection because of one’s identity.
The Columbus Dispatch
In January 2020, while attending the funeral of a young teen who died by suicide, I thought about what I could offer this mother and father who were saying goodbye to their only daughter.
I listened to classmates of the teen’s comfort each other and question what they could have done differently to save their friend’s life.
As I reached the mother of this young girl, I introduced myself and said, “I’m sorry.”
Before I could continue, the mother interrupted me, took my shoulders with her hands, and looked me in the eyes and simply asked, “I’m never going to be the same, am I?”
I looked back at the grieving mother and quietly said, “No, you aren’t.”