Students and community members walked around campus Sunday to help shine light on the conversation about suicide.
More than $5,800 were raised by nearly 130 participants who united for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at Ball State’s Out of the Darkness Walk.
Brandon Puszkiewicz, chairman of the this year’s walk, said he initially became involved in the Out of the Darkness walk his sophomore year of high school when one of his friends lost someone to suicide.
“After that I really enjoyed it and I loved how the community came together for this cause”, he said,
Suicide and self-harm are hard topics to get people to feel comfortable talking about, Puszkiewicz said.
“When someone dies by cancer or a heart attack, you know why that person died,” he said. “But when someone takes their own life, people don’t understand why and it’s not an easy thing to understand. So they would rather shy away from it than take the time to understand it.”
While suicide can be difficult to talk about, the act isn’t uncommon in the United States. According to the AFSP, a person dies by suicide every 13.7 minutes in the nation.
The goal of the walk was to raise funds for research and awareness on preventing suicide, according to the AFSP website.
Lisa Brattain, the Indiana and Ohio Area Director for AFSP, has been involved in the organization since 2007.
Brattain lost her son to suicide in 2006. She said she was looking for research on suicide and depression when she learned about AFSP. She discovered Indiana had no chapter and took it upon herself to start one.
“This is a safe and important conversation to have; just like we talk about cancer and heart disease, depression is an illness,” she said.
Many students who participated in the walk have been affected by suicide.
Brianna Lisak, a sophomore secondary education major, said her uncle and her friend’s brother died by suicide.
“I have seen what it does to families, the guilt that loved ones feel, and the way it destroys people,” Lisak said. “No one should feel that hopeless, and no one should have to feel that pain of losing someone they love.”
Kyle Stoffers, a senior theatre production major, said he knows many people who have been affected by depression and suicidal thoughts.
“I think that raising awareness about this sort of behavior is important because these people need our help,” he said.
Preston Jordan, a junior landscape architecture major, said three of his classmates died by suicide during high school.
While Jordan has not personally dealt with a suicide, one of his friends told him he was considering it.
“I was able to watch my girlfriend confront the situation in such an inspiring way and offer help and support to the extent of her abilities,” Jordan said.
Jay Zimmerman, director of clinical services at the counseling center, said there are resources such as self-help guides online, walk-in counseling and outreach programs to help students deal with suicidal thoughts and feelings.
In addition, the counseling center is working with Teachers College because it is a requirement that all students majoring in education obtain training in suicide prevention.
