Elon University students gathered Sept. 12 on Medallion Plaza to close out Suicide Prevention and Life Awareness Week with the Walk for Hope around Lake Mary Nell. Participants held signs with phrases such as “You matter” and “The world is better with you in it,” written on them.
Sophomore and Vice President for Active Minds Phoebe Struminger said she came to the event to spread awareness.
“I personally have lost someone to suicide,” Struminger said. “I have struggled myself, and being on the other side is just so beautiful to appreciate life as it is and spread awareness.”
Active Minds is a campus organization that works towards removing stigma surrounding mental health. Active Minds encourages others to speak about mental health through advocacy and spreading awareness according to Active Minds on PhoenixConnect. Struminger said coming to these events can also help destigmatize mental health.
“There's never enough information out there,” Struminger said. “It's become a super big stigma, which definitely needs to be broken as many people struggle with it.”
Charles Evans, a counselor with Elon’s Counseling Services, emphasized the importance of holding events like these.
“We lose a lot of people, unfortunately, with suicide every single year, even,” Evans said. “There's even Elon students who unfortunately have died by suicide. And I think one of the biggest things that people really need is to know that people care about these things.”
Evans said that its important to show up for others who you think may be struggling with suicide.
“Suicide is a problem that is going to be a problem for a while, and we have to continuously show up for things, for the things that we really find,” Evans said.
For resources, students, faculty and staff can contact the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life at 336-278-7729, staff with Student Care and Outreach in the Office of the Dean of Students at 336-278-7200, or counselors from Counseling Services at 336-278-7280. The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.
Students can access 24/7 resources from the crisis counselor on-call at 336-278-2222, TalkNow from TimelyCare, or Student Life administrator on-call through Campus Safety and Police at 336-278-5555. Faculty and staff may also utilize Elon Work-Life Resources for support.