September 18, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with the Executive Director for the AFSP Capital Area, Ellen Shannon, topics include: September Suicide Awareness Month, Events, Programs, Donations, Volunteering, Upcoming Out of Darkness Walks, 988, how AFSP is getting their message out to the Construction Industry and a partnership with the Washington Commanders!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program executive director for the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention Capital Area, Ellen Shannon. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll go over events, programs, the nine eight eight Suicide
and Crisis Lifeline, and talk about upcoming partnerships with the commanders,
the next out of Darkness walks, and how AFSP is
(00:29):
taking on the construction industry and getting the message out
to them. And don't forget that September is Suicide Awareness
Month and you can check out more at the AFSP
website at AFSP dot org, slash, chapter slash, National dash,
Capital dash Area. Here's my conversation with Ellen from AFSP.
I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. Good morning, Ellen,
Good morning Dennis. Well, it's great to talk to you again,
(00:51):
and we're in person. We never get to see each
other in person, so that's weird for everybody. I'm so
glad to speak with you again. There's a lot of
things happening with AFSP commander's relationship that we'll talk about,
which is always great. Of course, we have the commanders
on Big one hundred and then all the things you're
doing with Mike Jones DC one oh one and the
construction industry. Yeah, so there is a lot to cover programs,
(01:13):
advance everything. But I think what we should do with
our listeners, even though you've been on the show many times,
is do kind of a reset about AFSP and what
it is, what you do. So can you give kind
of a history and then let everybody know from thirty
thousand foot of you of what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention we are the leading
organization in the fight to stop suicide. Our mission is
to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide,
and we do that in four key areas. One, we
are the largest private funder of suicide prevention research in
the world, which is absolutely incredible and imperative for our
(01:50):
mission because we know that if we can answer the
question why do people die by suicide? We know we
can save lives because research has proven time and time
again that suicide is in fact preventable. From that research,
we develop educational resources and programs at the highest level
by the leading experts in the field, and then through
our chapters, which we have now seventy four chapters.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, seventy four chapters in all fifty states, Washington, d C.
And Puerto Rico. And it's through those chapters that we're
able to bring these life saving programs and these educational
resources to our communities at no cost, which is a
huge part of our mission because we want to make
sure we're accessible. Everyone has mental health and we're here
to serve everyone. We also advocate at the national, state
(02:38):
and local level, reaching out to our elected officials, letting
them know that mental health is something that impacts everybody.
Suicide unfortunately, impacts the majority of Americans at some point
in their life, and this is something that they need
to care about. So we work with our elected officials
to make this a national priority, a local priority, and
to pass laws that we know we'll save lives. And
(03:00):
a good example I've got to plug it is nine
to eight eight. That's something that we worked on getting
the three digit telephone number designated to the Suicide and
Crisis Lifeline and AFSP we had a big role in that.
And then finally, the fourth way that we serve our
mission to save lives and bring hope is through support
for survivors of suicide loss. We know that losing someone
(03:21):
to suicide can be an incredibly complicated type of grief,
and it's something that lasts the lifeline. You know, grief
can change over time, but it's always there. And so
we want to make sure that those who've been impacted
by suicide and have lost a loved one are aware
that there's a whole community of support out there, that
they have access to resources and to programs that will
help them heal during their grief journey.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Thank you for all of that. I want to circle
back to nine eight eight because I think a lot
of people saying, okay, you have a number, Well what happens.
So with that said, when somebody calls it, and I
should mention too that if it's not just you, if
it's a family member or a friend, a co worker,
anybody can call and you can talk to really qualified people. Yes,
so if somebody calls it, tell us what happens.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, so you can call nine eight eight. And I
always like to emphasize that it's not just four moments
of crisis, you know. I when I first learned about
nine and eight, I thought that's what it was. It's
you know, if you're in a moment of crisis, this
is what you call. It absolutely is for that, but
it's also are you worried about someone or do you
just need someone to talk to? Do you have questions
(04:27):
about like Okay, I'm thinking my friend, it might be struggling,
but I'm not really sure if the signs that I'm seeing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And you want to talk through it with somebody that
you can call nine eight eight for any reason twenty
four seven three sixty five and it will connect you
with the trained individual on the other end that can
support you through this conversation and just have a meaningful
conversation with you and connect you with resources and get
it is whatever it is that you may need for
(04:55):
whatever it is that you're going through, and so it
is an outstanding resource. I want to I know that
there's been a lot of conversations about nine eight eight
and how some resources within it, particularly supporting the LGBTQ
plus community, that those have been rolled back recently, but
I really want to emphasize that nine to eight eight
(05:15):
is still there. No matter who you are, you can
still reach out to nine eight eight and I still
want to encourage everyone to utilize this as a resource
and that we are very much advocating to make sure
that it gets the funding, the support and all the
resources for all the communities that do need special support
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You know, my listing audience knows is about me, Ellen,
But I live in Washington, d C. The northwest part,
and I actually see some nine eight eight signs, which
encourages me. And I love that those are up there,
and it's just a reminder that you your team are
doing some great work, but help is available. But that
was really nice to see.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I see them all the time, and I live
in northern Virginia, so I'm a little bit more in
the burbs. But the shopping center that I go to
for my groceries and Kinko's and stuff like that, every
time I go in there, I see them as well.
And it's so encouraging to see it out there and
that it's not the resource isn't just there, But there's
so much awareness being raised around this because we need
(06:10):
to know that there is hope and that there is
help out there all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
All right, before we talk about funding and programs and
events and the commanders. I know that you've got a
construction thing that you've got kind of happening, and it's
really fascinating, and off air you were telling me about it.
So I want you to talk at length about that
and educat our audience and that genre of our world
and what happens there. But I won't hold you to
(06:34):
specific stats. But as we take a look at statistics,
at least the latest you have when it comes to
died by suicide, I don't know about demos and all
that stuff, And you can go into the weeds if
you want to a little bit, but what are we
looking at currently when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, so right now in the United States, we lose
nearly fifty thousand people annually to suicide.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And that's a shocking number.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It is.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It is, especially because you know there is a leading
cause of death. And the thing is we know that
it's but when we even get more into the numbers,
you know, we're not just looking at those who have
died by suicide. For every person lost to suicide, we
know that more than one hundred and thirty people immediately
around them are impacted by the.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Law, which is once again an extraordinary number. And this
goes for anything that anybody would get if somebody is
sick with cancer or somebody's died by suicide. You have
to think of now all the connecting buckets of the friends, families, coworkers.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So that number makes a lot of sense absolutely. And
then even furthermore, for every person who dies by suicide,
we know that twenty five others survive a suicide attempt,
just statistically speaking, and so we're talking in the millions
and millions of people every single year in the United
States that are impacted by suicide. So it's well beyond
(07:50):
just the statistics of who we lose, but so many
others are impacted as well, and all of those experiences
are so important, and we want to serve all of
those individuals, and so that's what we're here to do.
You know, we of course want that number of fifty
thousand to go down, but I think what is encouraging
is to know that, you know, when we're talking about
more than a million people surviving a suicide attempt every year,
(08:13):
there's a big difference between fifty thousand and more than
a million. So just because someone has struggled with ideation
or lived experience or survived an attempt is by no
means does that mean that they it's you know, predetermined
that they're going to die by suicide. We can absolutely
support individuals with lived experience and those who have had
(08:35):
suicidal ideology to get them to a place of healing
and to get them to the support that they need
to go on and live long and healthy lives.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You know, one of the things that you and I
have talked about over the years is that when it
comes to died by suicide, it doesn't discriminate. There were
old people that do it, there were young people in
my daughter's peer group in gen Z. But it's all
shapes and size and all sorts of different people. And
that's the most fascinating thing that it's not really a
man a woman thing, or you know how you designate yourself,
(09:05):
or any color or creed. It is everybody out there.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Well everybody has mental health, right and you know, there
is no population that is immune from suicide. I've had
people at you know, sometimes snarkily ask me, well, what
about a three year old, And I'm like, well, I'm
sure there are plenty of three year olds out there
that have lost loved ones. To suicide and that's certainly
going to be something that impacts them for the rest
(09:29):
of their life. So, you know, everyone can be impacted
by suicide. And that's not to say that, you know,
different demographics aren't impacted at disproportionate rates. We certainly know
that that's true. There are you know, different demographics are
impacted differently, and there's a wide variety of risk factors
and protective factors that contribute to suicide risk. And there's
(09:51):
never any one particular reason of why somebody dies by suicide.
It's always a convergence of complex health issues and risk
factors that converge at a particular time to create a
temporary moment of risk. So we want to make sure
that we are serving every community out there, connecting with
(10:12):
every community out there, and serving them in a way
that is culturally competent to who we're talking to. And
I know you brought up the construction industry earlier, and
we've got some really society resources talk to serve that industry.
So we know the CDC data has shown us that
when it comes to occupational risk, the suicide or the
construction excuse me, construction and extraction industry is the number
(10:37):
one most impacted industry bumber suicide number one. Yes, when
it comes to occupational risk, and the industry is well aware.
We at AFSP here, we are certainly well aware. And
about two years ago, a most little shy of two
years ago, we entered into a fantastic partnership with Bechtel,
(10:58):
the construction company, and they gave us a very generous
gift to make an investment in research, in programming, in
resources to serve the construction industry.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Can I stop you there just for a second, because
I do want to ask you of my curiosity, who
came to who first? And the reason I asked that
is I imagine that they saw some data or were
experiencing something that allowed them to carve out this partnership
that they had to address. Correct.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, I mean between the CDC data alone is very
staggering and very worrisome and concerning to see just how
disproportionately that population is being impacted from an occupational point
of view, and it's really important that we fund research
to study why is that? Why is the construction industry
(11:47):
so disputate?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Do you want to do that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah? And so, as I mentioned before, suicide risk.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
It's it's always multiple risk factors that contribute to risk
as well as I never want to overlook the importance
of protected factors as well. But when we're looking at
risk within the construction industry, I'll touch on a few.
Of course, it's very complex, but you know, it's it's
a hard industry, right you know, you are out there,
you are in the elements, you're working in the heat,
(12:13):
you're working in the cold. You know, whatever it may
be if you're working outdoors, there's risk for injury. You know,
it's it can be a tough job. People do get
injured by the job, and you know, working through injuries
can be very difficult. Living with chronic pain can be
very challenging. I also learned, you know, through my work
(12:34):
here that you know a lot of the people within
the construction industry travel and may not always you know,
to different job sites and whatnot, and may not always
be around their loved ones, and which can be protective
factors the people who know you best, who give you
that love and support. So perhaps experiencing isolation can be
a really big challenge. Long work hours, the culture of toughness,
(12:55):
you know, you have to be tough to work in
this industry, and and that culture of toughness can play
a role in preventing an individual from maybe reaching out
or speaking out and saying, you know, I'm struggling because
perhaps they don't want to be perceived as being weak.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
But I've heard that before because I've talked to people
in different military institutions. That's the same thing they have
to deal with. And also first responders too. Yeah, you know,
we're doing tough stuff where we're too tough for this,
so there's no time for a mental wellness break kind
of thing. You know, we're tough guys tough gals that
that ain't happening. It's interesting that's being addressed.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, And I think it's really important to address that
because I think there is a lot of stigma around this.
I mean no doubt, I mean that's that's undisputable, which
you know, that's what's working to break down and stomp
down the stigma and create a culture that's smart about
mental health.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Biggest misconception is that it's a sign of weakness to
ask for help. Yeah, and that is absolutely not true
for anyone who has ever asked for help before that
is one of the bravest, strongest, most difficult things that
anyone can.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's the air that I'm a seventies logic key kid. Yeah,
I grew up in that atmosphere. We remember no education,
no Internet, no social media, know nothing the good and
bad of all of it. But because I had a
kid that was born in two thousand and two in
the gen Z, I got educated very quickly with her
peer group, and I think a lot of parents might
did that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, and asking for help can be a very difficult
thing to do, so, you know, just realizing that it
really is a sign of strength, and it's okay to
not be okay, and it's okay to reach out to
a friend if you're concerned about them and have you
know what, can be a very challenging conversation. It's awkward
to reach out to somebody and have that conversation. But
I think the biggest thing is, you know, to just
(14:45):
know that we're all we all have mental health. Everyone's
been impacted by this in one way or another. And
the more that we can do to talk about this
and talk about this in a way that breaks down
sigma and encourages help seeking can make all the difference
in the world. Because the one thing that is so
I think unique and special about this particular cause is
(15:05):
that everyone can play a role in saving lives. Everyone, you, me,
whoever's listening here today. We all can play a role
in breaking down stigma. We can all play a role
in letting our peer group, our children, you know, whoever
it is in our community to know that we are
a safe person to talk to. We can all reach
(15:26):
out and have a caring conversation with somebody that we're
not Just.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Pick up the phone and say, how are you doing
and check in?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I know it's all about having a little courage.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ye connection.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I want to stick with the construction thing because you know,
these men and women are working on sites for very
long hours and sometimes very early too long days. How
are you getting the message in the education to them.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So, we recently developed and launched within the past month
a new website with lots of resources and programs that
you can find available on it. It's called hard Hat Courage.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So it's its own website it is and AFSP developed
it and again it's hard hat Courage dot com. And
if you go on there, you can find a lot
of information, a lot of resources for the construction industry.
And we also launched earlier this year, the first week
of May, which is Construction Safety Week, we launched a
new program. It's actually an expansion on an existing program
(16:23):
that we have called Talk Saves Lives. We created a
brand new module which is culturally competent and speak specifically
to the construction industry, and it's called Talk Saves Lives Construction.
And I love this program because it talks about, you know,
it's just the answers the question what is suicide because
there's a lot of misconceptions about it, so it answers
you know, what is suicide is a complex health issue,
(16:45):
how many people are impacted. It goes through the risk factors,
the warning signs, what we all can do to intervene
and support someone and even ask for help ourselves, and
where to find resources. But you know, all the Talks
Lives versions have all that information, but this one speaks
specifically two and four and is presented by members of
(17:06):
the construction industry, which I think is really really fantastic.
And the great thing about this one not only is
it available in both English and Spanish currently, but in
the past, our TOX Saves Lives presentations have been done
in like classrooms, you know, with the PowerPoint and things
like that. Of course, this program can be presented in
that way, but not all construction workers. In fact, most
(17:30):
are in an office building with the PowerPoint, right. And
so the great thing about this presentation is that we're
able to go out to job sites and present this
where they are, meet them where they're at. In fact,
my colleague Kristen just this past Monday, went out to
a job site bright and early, at five thirty in
the morning. She was out there and she presented this
(17:52):
program was twenty to thirty minutes long at their morning
meeting before they started work to more than five hundred
con structure.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's huge. I mean, this is literally boots on the ground. Yes, yeah, yes,
I love that you're doing this, I really do. I
mean I always wonder how is this organization going to grow?
And this is a great example about you reaching out
to a whole new sect of people where this is effected.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
By it absolutely, And I'd be remiss if I didn't
mention in fact, this Veterans Day on November eleventh, we
are going to be launching a brand new program.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's going to be a.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Tok Sleaves Lives specifically for the veterans population.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So that's coming very soon. We're really excited about that
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, you have another thing that we should announce, and
we mentioned the Commanders, and of course iHeart great partners
with the Commanders on Big one hundred. Off to a
great season. Let's keep it going. It's always nice when
you can partner up with a pro sports team, especially
the National Football League. And I noticed that the Commanders
have been great at these kind of partnerships. Can you
talk about it?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Absolutely? So we have.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Last year we kicked off our first Raise Awareness for
Mental Health game in partnership with the Washington Commanders, which
was a big success. I think it was one of
their biggest games in which they sold out tickets to
benefit a charity organization, which is the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention in this case. And so our upcoming game,
(19:12):
it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It's a Sunday night game
against the Broncos on November thirtieth, and again that's going
to be their second annual Raise Awareness for Mental Health game.
And so if you go to AFSP dot org slash Commanders,
you will be able to go to our ticket site
and if you buy your tickets to that game through
(19:33):
that website, you can select a portion of your ticket
sales to go back to AFS.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, that's nice, really really excited you, Jen.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That's big for the NFL to do, by.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
The way, absolutely, And what's even cooler is that for
anybody who buys the tickets through those websites or through
that particular website again AFSP dot org slash Commanders, get
your tickets now because you know they're going to sell out.
But if you buy your ticket through that website, you'll
actually be invited to come to a pre game panel
of experts, some of which are from AFSP and then
(20:04):
some other mental health organizations, and the pregame panel is
going to be focusing very much on youth mental health
in sports, right, and so you'll be invited to that
special panel before the game here from leading experts in
the field, have a great conversation. There are going to
be some NFL legends or commander's legends, i should say
that are going to be a part of the panel
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it's going to be a really wonderful game.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
We're going to be out there tabling, sharing resources, hopefully
connecting with all the fans out in the crowd at
the stadium and just you know, raising awareness for mental health,
kicking down the stigma.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And what a great organization to do with it. Commanders.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, agreed, and you're hitting a large audience. I just
think it's wonderful. These partnerships are great. One of the
other big things that we talked about are your walks.
I know they're very special. They've been around for a
long time. A lot of people get involved, so talk
about the walks because it really is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yes, our Out of the Darkness Community walks are such
special events and they kick off every year in September
because September is Suicide Prevention Awareness month and so that's
when they start.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
But we have four main walks.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
In our area in the National Capital area, so our
chapter hosts won in Prince William, which happened already this year,
was on September seventh, but we have more coming up
throughout the season. We have our Louden Walk, which is
going to be at one Louden on September twentieth. We
have our Fairfax Walk that's going to be in a
brand new location. We're so excited about it. It's going
(21:30):
to be in the Mosaic District, Oh nice, which is awesome.
It's going to be on October fourth, and then our
largest walk of the season, which is the Washington d
C Out of the Darkness Walk, is going to be
on October eighteenth at the Lincoln Memorial. And these events
are absolutely fantastic. They are usually people's first introduction to
our organization and our mission, and so they're free, they're inclusive.
(21:54):
Anyone can come out, you can be a part of it.
There's no fund They are fundraisers, but there is no
fundraising minimum to Purduse because we want to make sure
everybody comes out and is able to be a part
of this event and show up and stand up to
suicide and you know, stomp down the stigma and everything
with it. But they're really hopeful events. It's there's something
(22:14):
so special to see hundreds, if not thousands in some cases,
of people coming together to support one another, to share
their experience. One of the things I love about these
events is we have these things called honor beads. I
don't know if you've seen them before, Dennis, But we
have ten different colors of beads that people wear, and
(22:36):
they're exactly what you think of beads, like Marti Gras beads,
but they're not They're they're special honor beads. And every
color of bead represents a different connection to the cause.
And so when people check in, you can blue as
general support for suicide prevention, Red is loss of spouse
of our partner, White is loss of a child, Gold,
(22:56):
loss of a parent, so on and so forth, and
so there's something really special when you come to these
events you see people wear multiple colors of beads. I
think I wear four different colors now. And you don't
even have to have a conversation with another person there
to see that you have a connection with that and
you may have had a similar loss or experience or
(23:17):
even your own lived exil.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I like that you do that, you know, because you
and I have talked about this, and I talk about
this with almost any nonprofit that does something like this,
and it's about the connection that people will have and
acknowledging that this happened to me too, And because when
something bad happens to you, whatever It is like when
I had rumatar arthritis when I was twenty one. I
(23:39):
had no education, no Internet, no social media, know nothing
to know that somebody else on the planet had what
I had. And I say that because when died by
suicide happens to your family member, somebody close to you,
an office coworker or a friend, you start to feel
on an island, I imagine, and then you can relate
and say to that family, wow, that happened you too.
(24:01):
Can we talk about or just share whatever. I think
that's the huge part of these walks that people can
get together and share which is brutal grief, but know
that you're not alone out there, and I imagine that's
something you talk about a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Absolutely, that the feeling of connection and to know that
you're not the only person who's ever experienced this, it
can be really really powerful. And to help facilitate that connection,
we even do an honor beads ceremony, which is a
really powerful ceremony where we have ten different representatives on
stage who represent the ten different connections to the cause,
(24:36):
and then we briefly share their story and then invite
everybody who's there as a participant to raise their hand
or their beads when we call out the color, and
it's so powerful, and you can see a parent who's
lost their child, see a you know, another person wearing
white beads, you know, twenty feet away, and they just
make that connection. And I've seen people literally just do
(24:59):
that and then just go and embrace and just knowing
that they've they've shared that experience and it's it's really powerful.
But I can't emphasize enough how much hope is a
part of these events, how positive they are.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I've never seen a.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Community with so much caring and empathy and love and
support for one another. And so it really is. You know,
of course this is very heavy subject matter, it's very
serious subject matter, but there is there's smiles, there's love,
there's compassion, there's so much hope, and it really is.
It is a very positive event. I can tell you.
At the end of every single walk I've ever been to,
(25:36):
and I just counted, I think I just led my
thirty sixth thirty seventh, the thirty seventh walk, yes, community
walk at least, And so I've been to a few,
to say the least, over the last nine and a
half years, and there's not a single one that I've
never walked away from, just feeling completely moved and re
(25:58):
energized and hope for the future.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I love that. I love your passion. We have about
four minutes left, yes, so I want to talk about
how you're funded, but also donations volunteering real quickly, because
I know that's really important. And then we'll get some
final thoughts. We'll get the website again, the phone number,
social media. But when it comes to being funded and
donations and volunteering, how does it all work?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
So these out of the Darkness Walks that we're talking about,
that is one of our primary revenue streams. You know,
I mentioned that they they are fundraisers. Of course there's
no raising minimum or registration fee, but they are fundraisers.
And the fact that we are able to provide so
much for our community through our chapters at no cost
to our constituents, it's because of these out of the
(26:40):
Darkness walks, and so you know, we have them here
again in Prince William Loud and Fairfax DC. Their sponsorship
opportunities for them, and we provide a lot of recognition
benefits for our sponsors. But you can also sign up.
You can form a team, give a gift, fundraise, and
we give you lots of tools to because we know
not everybody as a professional fundraiser like myself, so we
(27:03):
give you lots of tools to help you do that
as a participant. But there's so many ways to get involved.
We also were a voluntary organization. In fact here in
the National Capital Area it's just me and my colleague
Kristen as the two paid staff people, and then everything
else we do, from our programs, our chapter leadership, our committees,
(27:23):
it's all volunteer led. And so if you are passionate
about prevention and you're trying to figure out where to
channel that energy, go to our website at AFSP dot
org slash NCAC, which stands for National Capital Area Chapter.
There's a big old button at the top of the
screen that says volunteer, and you just fill out a
little application and we can get you on your way.
(27:46):
We can certainly use all the help we can get.
We have day event volunteer opportunities as well as board
level positions, so whatever you want to do, we will
take it. And so getting involved in our events, our programs, volunteership,
just come and check out our chapter website. There is
no shortage of opportunities to get involved. And also I'd
be remiss if I didn't say that will come to you.
(28:08):
If your community group, your business, your school, you name it,
whatever you're a part of, your place of worship, would
like to have us come out and speak, to present
a program, to provide resources. It's all free, it's all
evidence informed, and so we want to get out there.
We've got all these great resources and programs, but they
do us no good if they're not out in the
community and in the hands of the people who need it.
(28:29):
So please go to our chapter website AFSP dot org,
slash NCAC. You will see my picture right up there
on the screen with my email address. You're welcome to
reach out to me directly, connect with our chapter and
just learn how to get involved.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Well it's huge. Yeah, thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate it. I'm really encouraged about There's always
new things that are added to your arsenal that just
the two of you are doing, and it never seees
It's amazingly when I talked to great nonprofits, if there's
only two people running this whole organization, it really blows
me away, and I know you're bus with it and
you do an incredible job. With that said, the construction
(29:05):
thing that you've got going on in the new website,
and let's give that one more time for everybody.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So our website for the construction industry to find resources
is called hardhatcourage dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Very good. And let's give the regular website.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Af SP dot org. That's our national website. And even
from there, if you're listening, you know, streaming anywhere in
the country, you can find your local chapter at AFSP
dot org. That's our homepage for the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And one more time on the Commander's relationship and the tickets.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Yes, November thirtieth, Sunday after Thanksgiving, it's the raise Awareness
for Mental health game against the Broncos Sunday night game.
Go to AFSP dot org slash Commanders and get your
tickets there to benefit AFSP and to play a role
in suicide prevention.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Outstanding. Choose Ellen Shannon and she's in person. Then yeah,
how about that no zoom today. It's great to be here,
it's great to see you. Thanks again for joining us
on Community DC.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Thanks Dennis
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program executive director for the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention Capital Area, Ellen Shannon. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll go over events, programs, the nine eight eight Suicide
and Crisis Lifeline, and talk about upcoming partnerships with the commanders,
the next out of Darkness walks, and how AFSP is
(00:29):
taking on the construction industry and getting the message out
to them. And don't forget that September is Suicide Awareness
Month and you can check out more at the AFSP
website at AFSP dot org, slash, chapter slash, National dash,
Capital dash Area. Here's my conversation with Ellen from AFSP.
I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. Good morning, Ellen,
Good morning Dennis. Well, it's great to talk to you again,
(00:51):
and we're in person. We never get to see each
other in person, so that's weird for everybody. I'm so
glad to speak with you again. There's a lot of
things happening with AFSP commander's relationship that we'll talk about,
which is always great. Of course, we have the commanders
on Big one hundred and then all the things you're
doing with Mike Jones DC one oh one and the
construction industry. Yeah, so there is a lot to cover programs,
(01:13):
advance everything. But I think what we should do with
our listeners, even though you've been on the show many times,
is do kind of a reset about AFSP and what
it is, what you do. So can you give kind
of a history and then let everybody know from thirty
thousand foot of you of what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention we are the leading
organization in the fight to stop suicide. Our mission is
to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide,
and we do that in four key areas. One, we
are the largest private funder of suicide prevention research in
the world, which is absolutely incredible and imperative for our
(01:50):
mission because we know that if we can answer the
question why do people die by suicide? We know we
can save lives because research has proven time and time
again that suicide is in fact preventable. From that research,
we develop educational resources and programs at the highest level
by the leading experts in the field, and then through
our chapters, which we have now seventy four chapters.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, seventy four chapters in all fifty states, Washington, d C.
And Puerto Rico. And it's through those chapters that we're
able to bring these life saving programs and these educational
resources to our communities at no cost, which is a
huge part of our mission because we want to make
sure we're accessible. Everyone has mental health and we're here
to serve everyone. We also advocate at the national, state
(02:38):
and local level, reaching out to our elected officials, letting
them know that mental health is something that impacts everybody.
Suicide unfortunately, impacts the majority of Americans at some point
in their life, and this is something that they need
to care about. So we work with our elected officials
to make this a national priority, a local priority, and
to pass laws that we know we'll save lives. And
(03:00):
a good example I've got to plug it is nine
to eight eight. That's something that we worked on getting
the three digit telephone number designated to the Suicide and
Crisis Lifeline and AFSP we had a big role in that.
And then finally, the fourth way that we serve our
mission to save lives and bring hope is through support
for survivors of suicide loss. We know that losing someone
(03:21):
to suicide can be an incredibly complicated type of grief,
and it's something that lasts the lifeline. You know, grief
can change over time, but it's always there. And so
we want to make sure that those who've been impacted
by suicide and have lost a loved one are aware
that there's a whole community of support out there, that
they have access to resources and to programs that will
help them heal during their grief journey.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Thank you for all of that. I want to circle
back to nine eight eight because I think a lot
of people saying, okay, you have a number, Well what happens.
So with that said, when somebody calls it, and I
should mention too that if it's not just you, if
it's a family member or a friend, a co worker,
anybody can call and you can talk to really qualified people. Yes,
so if somebody calls it, tell us what happens.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, so you can call nine eight eight. And I
always like to emphasize that it's not just four moments
of crisis, you know. I when I first learned about
nine and eight, I thought that's what it was. It's
you know, if you're in a moment of crisis, this
is what you call. It absolutely is for that, but
it's also are you worried about someone or do you
just need someone to talk to? Do you have questions
(04:27):
about like Okay, I'm thinking my friend, it might be struggling,
but I'm not really sure if the signs that I'm seeing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And you want to talk through it with somebody that
you can call nine eight eight for any reason twenty
four seven three sixty five and it will connect you
with the trained individual on the other end that can
support you through this conversation and just have a meaningful
conversation with you and connect you with resources and get
it is whatever it is that you may need for
(04:55):
whatever it is that you're going through, and so it
is an outstanding resource. I want to I know that
there's been a lot of conversations about nine eight eight
and how some resources within it, particularly supporting the LGBTQ
plus community, that those have been rolled back recently, but
I really want to emphasize that nine to eight eight
(05:15):
is still there. No matter who you are, you can
still reach out to nine eight eight and I still
want to encourage everyone to utilize this as a resource
and that we are very much advocating to make sure
that it gets the funding, the support and all the
resources for all the communities that do need special support
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You know, my listing audience knows is about me, Ellen,
But I live in Washington, d C. The northwest part,
and I actually see some nine eight eight signs, which
encourages me. And I love that those are up there,
and it's just a reminder that you your team are
doing some great work, but help is available. But that
was really nice to see.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I see them all the time, and I live
in northern Virginia, so I'm a little bit more in
the burbs. But the shopping center that I go to
for my groceries and Kinko's and stuff like that, every
time I go in there, I see them as well.
And it's so encouraging to see it out there and
that it's not the resource isn't just there, But there's
so much awareness being raised around this because we need
(06:10):
to know that there is hope and that there is
help out there all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
All right, before we talk about funding and programs and
events and the commanders. I know that you've got a
construction thing that you've got kind of happening, and it's
really fascinating, and off air you were telling me about it.
So I want you to talk at length about that
and educat our audience and that genre of our world
and what happens there. But I won't hold you to
(06:34):
specific stats. But as we take a look at statistics,
at least the latest you have when it comes to
died by suicide, I don't know about demos and all
that stuff, And you can go into the weeds if
you want to a little bit, but what are we
looking at currently when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, so right now in the United States, we lose
nearly fifty thousand people annually to suicide.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And that's a shocking number.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It is.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It is, especially because you know there is a leading
cause of death. And the thing is we know that
it's but when we even get more into the numbers,
you know, we're not just looking at those who have
died by suicide. For every person lost to suicide, we
know that more than one hundred and thirty people immediately
around them are impacted by the.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Law, which is once again an extraordinary number. And this
goes for anything that anybody would get if somebody is
sick with cancer or somebody's died by suicide. You have
to think of now all the connecting buckets of the friends, families, coworkers.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So that number makes a lot of sense absolutely. And
then even furthermore, for every person who dies by suicide,
we know that twenty five others survive a suicide attempt,
just statistically speaking, and so we're talking in the millions
and millions of people every single year in the United
States that are impacted by suicide. So it's well beyond
(07:50):
just the statistics of who we lose, but so many
others are impacted as well, and all of those experiences
are so important, and we want to serve all of
those individuals, and so that's what we're here to do.
You know, we of course want that number of fifty
thousand to go down, but I think what is encouraging
is to know that, you know, when we're talking about
more than a million people surviving a suicide attempt every year,
(08:13):
there's a big difference between fifty thousand and more than
a million. So just because someone has struggled with ideation
or lived experience or survived an attempt is by no
means does that mean that they it's you know, predetermined
that they're going to die by suicide. We can absolutely
support individuals with lived experience and those who have had
(08:35):
suicidal ideology to get them to a place of healing
and to get them to the support that they need
to go on and live long and healthy lives.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You know, one of the things that you and I
have talked about over the years is that when it
comes to died by suicide, it doesn't discriminate. There were
old people that do it, there were young people in
my daughter's peer group in gen Z. But it's all
shapes and size and all sorts of different people. And
that's the most fascinating thing that it's not really a
man a woman thing, or you know how you designate yourself,
(09:05):
or any color or creed. It is everybody out there.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Well everybody has mental health, right and you know, there
is no population that is immune from suicide. I've had
people at you know, sometimes snarkily ask me, well, what
about a three year old, And I'm like, well, I'm
sure there are plenty of three year olds out there
that have lost loved ones. To suicide and that's certainly
going to be something that impacts them for the rest
(09:29):
of their life. So, you know, everyone can be impacted
by suicide. And that's not to say that, you know,
different demographics aren't impacted at disproportionate rates. We certainly know
that that's true. There are you know, different demographics are
impacted differently, and there's a wide variety of risk factors
and protective factors that contribute to suicide risk. And there's
(09:51):
never any one particular reason of why somebody dies by suicide.
It's always a convergence of complex health issues and risk
factors that converge at a particular time to create a
temporary moment of risk. So we want to make sure
that we are serving every community out there, connecting with
(10:12):
every community out there, and serving them in a way
that is culturally competent to who we're talking to. And
I know you brought up the construction industry earlier, and
we've got some really society resources talk to serve that industry.
So we know the CDC data has shown us that
when it comes to occupational risk, the suicide or the
construction excuse me, construction and extraction industry is the number
(10:37):
one most impacted industry bumber suicide number one. Yes, when
it comes to occupational risk, and the industry is well aware.
We at AFSP here, we are certainly well aware. And
about two years ago, a most little shy of two
years ago, we entered into a fantastic partnership with Bechtel,
(10:58):
the construction company, and they gave us a very generous
gift to make an investment in research, in programming, in
resources to serve the construction industry.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Can I stop you there just for a second, because
I do want to ask you of my curiosity, who
came to who first? And the reason I asked that
is I imagine that they saw some data or were
experiencing something that allowed them to carve out this partnership
that they had to address. Correct.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, I mean between the CDC data alone is very
staggering and very worrisome and concerning to see just how
disproportionately that population is being impacted from an occupational point
of view, and it's really important that we fund research
to study why is that? Why is the construction industry
(11:47):
so disputate?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Do you want to do that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah? And so, as I mentioned before, suicide risk.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
It's it's always multiple risk factors that contribute to risk
as well as I never want to overlook the importance
of protected factors as well. But when we're looking at
risk within the construction industry, I'll touch on a few.
Of course, it's very complex, but you know, it's it's
a hard industry, right you know, you are out there,
you are in the elements, you're working in the heat,
(12:13):
you're working in the cold. You know, whatever it may
be if you're working outdoors, there's risk for injury. You know,
it's it can be a tough job. People do get
injured by the job, and you know, working through injuries
can be very difficult. Living with chronic pain can be
very challenging. I also learned, you know, through my work
(12:34):
here that you know a lot of the people within
the construction industry travel and may not always you know,
to different job sites and whatnot, and may not always
be around their loved ones, and which can be protective
factors the people who know you best, who give you
that love and support. So perhaps experiencing isolation can be
a really big challenge. Long work hours, the culture of toughness,
(12:55):
you know, you have to be tough to work in
this industry, and and that culture of toughness can play
a role in preventing an individual from maybe reaching out
or speaking out and saying, you know, I'm struggling because
perhaps they don't want to be perceived as being weak.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
But I've heard that before because I've talked to people
in different military institutions. That's the same thing they have
to deal with. And also first responders too. Yeah, you know,
we're doing tough stuff where we're too tough for this,
so there's no time for a mental wellness break kind
of thing. You know, we're tough guys tough gals that
that ain't happening. It's interesting that's being addressed.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, And I think it's really important to address that
because I think there is a lot of stigma around this.
I mean no doubt, I mean that's that's undisputable, which
you know, that's what's working to break down and stomp
down the stigma and create a culture that's smart about
mental health.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Biggest misconception is that it's a sign of weakness to
ask for help. Yeah, and that is absolutely not true
for anyone who has ever asked for help before that
is one of the bravest, strongest, most difficult things that
anyone can.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's the air that I'm a seventies logic key kid. Yeah,
I grew up in that atmosphere. We remember no education,
no Internet, no social media, know nothing the good and
bad of all of it. But because I had a
kid that was born in two thousand and two in
the gen Z, I got educated very quickly with her
peer group, and I think a lot of parents might
did that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, and asking for help can be a very difficult
thing to do, so, you know, just realizing that it
really is a sign of strength, and it's okay to
not be okay, and it's okay to reach out to
a friend if you're concerned about them and have you
know what, can be a very challenging conversation. It's awkward
to reach out to somebody and have that conversation. But
I think the biggest thing is, you know, to just
(14:45):
know that we're all we all have mental health. Everyone's
been impacted by this in one way or another. And
the more that we can do to talk about this
and talk about this in a way that breaks down
sigma and encourages help seeking can make all the difference
in the world. Because the one thing that is so
I think unique and special about this particular cause is
(15:05):
that everyone can play a role in saving lives. Everyone, you, me,
whoever's listening here today. We all can play a role
in breaking down stigma. We can all play a role
in letting our peer group, our children, you know, whoever
it is in our community to know that we are
a safe person to talk to. We can all reach
(15:26):
out and have a caring conversation with somebody that we're
not Just.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Pick up the phone and say, how are you doing
and check in?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I know it's all about having a little courage.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ye connection.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I want to stick with the construction thing because you know,
these men and women are working on sites for very
long hours and sometimes very early too long days. How
are you getting the message in the education to them.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So, we recently developed and launched within the past month
a new website with lots of resources and programs that
you can find available on it. It's called hard Hat Courage.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So it's its own website it is and AFSP developed
it and again it's hard hat Courage dot com. And
if you go on there, you can find a lot
of information, a lot of resources for the construction industry.
And we also launched earlier this year, the first week
of May, which is Construction Safety Week, we launched a
new program. It's actually an expansion on an existing program
(16:23):
that we have called Talk Saves Lives. We created a
brand new module which is culturally competent and speak specifically
to the construction industry, and it's called Talk Saves Lives Construction.
And I love this program because it talks about, you know,
it's just the answers the question what is suicide because
there's a lot of misconceptions about it, so it answers
you know, what is suicide is a complex health issue,
(16:45):
how many people are impacted. It goes through the risk factors,
the warning signs, what we all can do to intervene
and support someone and even ask for help ourselves, and
where to find resources. But you know, all the Talks
Lives versions have all that information, but this one speaks
specifically two and four and is presented by members of
(17:06):
the construction industry, which I think is really really fantastic.
And the great thing about this one not only is
it available in both English and Spanish currently, but in
the past, our TOX Saves Lives presentations have been done
in like classrooms, you know, with the PowerPoint and things
like that. Of course, this program can be presented in
that way, but not all construction workers. In fact, most
(17:30):
are in an office building with the PowerPoint, right. And
so the great thing about this presentation is that we're
able to go out to job sites and present this
where they are, meet them where they're at. In fact,
my colleague Kristen just this past Monday, went out to
a job site bright and early, at five thirty in
the morning. She was out there and she presented this
(17:52):
program was twenty to thirty minutes long at their morning
meeting before they started work to more than five hundred
con structure.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's huge. I mean, this is literally boots on the ground. Yes, yeah, yes,
I love that you're doing this, I really do. I
mean I always wonder how is this organization going to grow?
And this is a great example about you reaching out
to a whole new sect of people where this is effected.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
By it absolutely, And I'd be remiss if I didn't
mention in fact, this Veterans Day on November eleventh, we
are going to be launching a brand new program.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's going to be a.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Tok Sleaves Lives specifically for the veterans population.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So that's coming very soon. We're really excited about that
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, you have another thing that we should announce, and
we mentioned the Commanders, and of course iHeart great partners
with the Commanders on Big one hundred. Off to a
great season. Let's keep it going. It's always nice when
you can partner up with a pro sports team, especially
the National Football League. And I noticed that the Commanders
have been great at these kind of partnerships. Can you
talk about it?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Absolutely? So we have.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Last year we kicked off our first Raise Awareness for
Mental Health game in partnership with the Washington Commanders, which
was a big success. I think it was one of
their biggest games in which they sold out tickets to
benefit a charity organization, which is the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention in this case. And so our upcoming game,
(19:12):
it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It's a Sunday night game
against the Broncos on November thirtieth, and again that's going
to be their second annual Raise Awareness for Mental Health game.
And so if you go to AFSP dot org slash Commanders,
you will be able to go to our ticket site
and if you buy your tickets to that game through
(19:33):
that website, you can select a portion of your ticket
sales to go back to AFS.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, that's nice, really really excited you, Jen.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That's big for the NFL to do, by.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
The way, absolutely, And what's even cooler is that for
anybody who buys the tickets through those websites or through
that particular website again AFSP dot org slash Commanders, get
your tickets now because you know they're going to sell out.
But if you buy your ticket through that website, you'll
actually be invited to come to a pre game panel
of experts, some of which are from AFSP and then
(20:04):
some other mental health organizations, and the pregame panel is
going to be focusing very much on youth mental health
in sports, right, and so you'll be invited to that
special panel before the game here from leading experts in
the field, have a great conversation. There are going to
be some NFL legends or commander's legends, i should say
that are going to be a part of the panel
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it's going to be a really wonderful game.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
We're going to be out there tabling, sharing resources, hopefully
connecting with all the fans out in the crowd at
the stadium and just you know, raising awareness for mental health,
kicking down the stigma.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And what a great organization to do with it. Commanders.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, agreed, and you're hitting a large audience. I just
think it's wonderful. These partnerships are great. One of the
other big things that we talked about are your walks.
I know they're very special. They've been around for a
long time. A lot of people get involved, so talk
about the walks because it really is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yes, our Out of the Darkness Community walks are such
special events and they kick off every year in September
because September is Suicide Prevention Awareness month and so that's
when they start.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
But we have four main walks.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
In our area in the National Capital area, so our
chapter hosts won in Prince William, which happened already this year,
was on September seventh, but we have more coming up
throughout the season. We have our Louden Walk, which is
going to be at one Louden on September twentieth. We
have our Fairfax Walk that's going to be in a
brand new location. We're so excited about it. It's going
(21:30):
to be in the Mosaic District, Oh nice, which is awesome.
It's going to be on October fourth, and then our
largest walk of the season, which is the Washington d
C Out of the Darkness Walk, is going to be
on October eighteenth at the Lincoln Memorial. And these events
are absolutely fantastic. They are usually people's first introduction to
our organization and our mission, and so they're free, they're inclusive.
(21:54):
Anyone can come out, you can be a part of it.
There's no fund They are fundraisers, but there is no
fundraising minimum to Purduse because we want to make sure
everybody comes out and is able to be a part
of this event and show up and stand up to
suicide and you know, stomp down the stigma and everything
with it. But they're really hopeful events. It's there's something
(22:14):
so special to see hundreds, if not thousands in some cases,
of people coming together to support one another, to share
their experience. One of the things I love about these
events is we have these things called honor beads. I
don't know if you've seen them before, Dennis, But we
have ten different colors of beads that people wear, and
(22:36):
they're exactly what you think of beads, like Marti Gras beads,
but they're not They're they're special honor beads. And every
color of bead represents a different connection to the cause.
And so when people check in, you can blue as
general support for suicide prevention, Red is loss of spouse
of our partner, White is loss of a child, Gold,
(22:56):
loss of a parent, so on and so forth, and
so there's something really special when you come to these
events you see people wear multiple colors of beads. I
think I wear four different colors now. And you don't
even have to have a conversation with another person there
to see that you have a connection with that and
you may have had a similar loss or experience or
(23:17):
even your own lived exil.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I like that you do that, you know, because you
and I have talked about this, and I talk about
this with almost any nonprofit that does something like this,
and it's about the connection that people will have and
acknowledging that this happened to me too, And because when
something bad happens to you, whatever It is like when
I had rumatar arthritis when I was twenty one. I
(23:39):
had no education, no Internet, no social media, know nothing
to know that somebody else on the planet had what
I had. And I say that because when died by
suicide happens to your family member, somebody close to you,
an office coworker or a friend, you start to feel
on an island, I imagine, and then you can relate
and say to that family, wow, that happened you too.
(24:01):
Can we talk about or just share whatever. I think
that's the huge part of these walks that people can
get together and share which is brutal grief, but know
that you're not alone out there, and I imagine that's
something you talk about a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Absolutely, that the feeling of connection and to know that
you're not the only person who's ever experienced this, it
can be really really powerful. And to help facilitate that connection,
we even do an honor beads ceremony, which is a
really powerful ceremony where we have ten different representatives on
stage who represent the ten different connections to the cause,
(24:36):
and then we briefly share their story and then invite
everybody who's there as a participant to raise their hand
or their beads when we call out the color, and
it's so powerful, and you can see a parent who's
lost their child, see a you know, another person wearing
white beads, you know, twenty feet away, and they just
make that connection. And I've seen people literally just do
(24:59):
that and then just go and embrace and just knowing
that they've they've shared that experience and it's it's really powerful.
But I can't emphasize enough how much hope is a
part of these events, how positive they are.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I've never seen a.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Community with so much caring and empathy and love and
support for one another. And so it really is. You know,
of course this is very heavy subject matter, it's very
serious subject matter, but there is there's smiles, there's love,
there's compassion, there's so much hope, and it really is.
It is a very positive event. I can tell you.
At the end of every single walk I've ever been to,
(25:36):
and I just counted, I think I just led my
thirty sixth thirty seventh, the thirty seventh walk, yes, community
walk at least, And so I've been to a few,
to say the least, over the last nine and a
half years, and there's not a single one that I've
never walked away from, just feeling completely moved and re
(25:58):
energized and hope for the future.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I love that. I love your passion. We have about
four minutes left, yes, so I want to talk about
how you're funded, but also donations volunteering real quickly, because
I know that's really important. And then we'll get some
final thoughts. We'll get the website again, the phone number,
social media. But when it comes to being funded and
donations and volunteering, how does it all work?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
So these out of the Darkness Walks that we're talking about,
that is one of our primary revenue streams. You know,
I mentioned that they they are fundraisers. Of course there's
no raising minimum or registration fee, but they are fundraisers.
And the fact that we are able to provide so
much for our community through our chapters at no cost
to our constituents, it's because of these out of the
(26:40):
Darkness walks, and so you know, we have them here
again in Prince William Loud and Fairfax DC. Their sponsorship
opportunities for them, and we provide a lot of recognition
benefits for our sponsors. But you can also sign up.
You can form a team, give a gift, fundraise, and
we give you lots of tools to because we know
not everybody as a professional fundraiser like myself, so we
(27:03):
give you lots of tools to help you do that
as a participant. But there's so many ways to get involved.
We also were a voluntary organization. In fact here in
the National Capital Area it's just me and my colleague
Kristen as the two paid staff people, and then everything
else we do, from our programs, our chapter leadership, our committees,
(27:23):
it's all volunteer led. And so if you are passionate
about prevention and you're trying to figure out where to
channel that energy, go to our website at AFSP dot
org slash NCAC, which stands for National Capital Area Chapter.
There's a big old button at the top of the
screen that says volunteer, and you just fill out a
little application and we can get you on your way.
(27:46):
We can certainly use all the help we can get.
We have day event volunteer opportunities as well as board
level positions, so whatever you want to do, we will
take it. And so getting involved in our events, our programs, volunteership,
just come and check out our chapter website. There is
no shortage of opportunities to get involved. And also I'd
be remiss if I didn't say that will come to you.
(28:08):
If your community group, your business, your school, you name it,
whatever you're a part of, your place of worship, would
like to have us come out and speak, to present
a program, to provide resources. It's all free, it's all
evidence informed, and so we want to get out there.
We've got all these great resources and programs, but they
do us no good if they're not out in the
community and in the hands of the people who need it.
(28:29):
So please go to our chapter website AFSP dot org,
slash NCAC. You will see my picture right up there
on the screen with my email address. You're welcome to
reach out to me directly, connect with our chapter and
just learn how to get involved.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Well it's huge. Yeah, thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate it. I'm really encouraged about There's always
new things that are added to your arsenal that just
the two of you are doing, and it never seees
It's amazingly when I talked to great nonprofits, if there's
only two people running this whole organization, it really blows
me away, and I know you're bus with it and
you do an incredible job. With that said, the construction
(29:05):
thing that you've got going on in the new website,
and let's give that one more time for everybody.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So our website for the construction industry to find resources
is called hardhatcourage dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Very good. And let's give the regular website.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Af SP dot org. That's our national website. And even
from there, if you're listening, you know, streaming anywhere in
the country, you can find your local chapter at AFSP
dot org. That's our homepage for the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And one more time on the Commander's relationship and the tickets.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Yes, November thirtieth, Sunday after Thanksgiving, it's the raise Awareness
for Mental health game against the Broncos Sunday night game.
Go to AFSP dot org slash Commanders and get your
tickets there to benefit AFSP and to play a role
in suicide prevention.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Outstanding. Choose Ellen Shannon and she's in person. Then yeah,
how about that no zoom today. It's great to be here,
it's great to see you. Thanks again for joining us
on Community DC.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Thanks Dennis
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