North Texas Out of the Darkness walk designed to educate, bring awareness to the issue of suicide
By Mathew Shaw | Contributing Writer
nash@dallasvoice.com
To bring awareness to the issue of suicide and to raise funds for suicide research, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s North Texas chapter hosts its annual Out of the Darkness walk Saturday, Oct. 4 in Reverchon Park.
Peggy Marshall, North Texas chapter chair, said the meaning of the event’s name — Out of Darkness — means many things to many people: “It’s people who are concerned with suicide prevention; it’s people who have lost loved ones to suicide, or it’s people who have thought about suicide. They all come together in hopes that it gets the word out to people.
“It’s time for us as an organization to shine a light on the importance of reaching out for help,” Marshall added.
AFSP is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to research and education on suicide, said Ryan Tharp, North Texas chapter board member.
“Our main goal is really to reduce the stigma around mental health and suicide,” Tharp said. “All of the money that we raise goes to fund scientific research.”
These funds, he added, help develop new programs that AFSP can implement, such as distributing DVDs to schools.
Marshall said that education and awareness are also priorities. “We don’t know enough about [suicide],” she said. “We don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable, so it’s just not talked about enough.”
As of 2009, suicide was the 10th-leading cause of death among persons 10 years or older in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2011, 39,518 people lost their lives to suicide.
“That is, one person every 13.3 minutes died by suicide,” Marshall said.
The fight against suicide is personal for Marshall, who’s husband died by suicide almost nine years ago. He kept his struggles with depression to himself, she said.
“I think it was a stigma around depression that kept him from sharing that,” she said.
Mansfield resident Jessica Caudle, who lost her father to suicide when she was 7, will attend the walk with her partner of eight years, her 9-year-old son and several friends. This will be her third time to participate in the Out of the Darkness walk.
Caudle said that in her family, too, no one talked about what happened. And when she got older, she said she began dealing with her grief in self-destructive ways, such as turning to alcohol.
Noting that suicide particularly impacts the LGBT community, Caudle said she also dealt with depression before becoming comfortable with her identity as a lesbian.
The CDC website confirms that LGBT youth are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, suicide attempts and suicide. And the AFSP website stressed the organization’s endorsement of legislative and research initiatives to prevent suicide in the LGBT community.
Participants may register teams to walk in. Caudle will walk with Team Know Hope.
“Hope is available, and I feel it’s important to send the message out there,” she said.
Ryan Tharp, who lost his sister to suicide in June 2011, will walk with Team Lauren’s Legacy.
“When I lost my sister, I immediately felt like there’s nobody else in the world who knows what this feels like,” he said. “But there are millions, millions of people who have lost loved ones.”
Those who are in crisis may call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The walk will take place 2-5 p.m. at Reverchon Park, located at 3501 Maple Ave. After the walk will be a “Celebration of Life” picnic in the same place.
The walk is open to anbody who wants to participate. Register online at afsp.org (under the Out of the Darkness Walks/Find a Walk Near You tabs) by 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, or register on Saturday at the event.
As of Oct. 2, the walk had raised more than $117,00 toward its goal of $150,000 and 917 people had registered to walk.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 3, 2014.
