Friday, December 14, 2018

UWest Participates in Drive for Suicide Prevention


Jonathan D. Strum is an attorney who works as the US counsel for Planet Energy. Outside of his professional life, Jonathan Strum sits on the board of trustees of the University of the West (UWest), a nonprofit university dedicated to cultural understanding. 

On November 3, 2018, students and staff members from UWest took part in a donor drive for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and a follow-up “Out of the Darkness” walk. The students and staff members raised funds for AFSP initiatives, including a national suicide-prevention hotline that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

For the “Out of the Darkness” walk, UWest students and staff members made signs with the names and pictures of seven young people who had died by suicide. The signs were made together with the parents of the deceased to honor the lives of their children. Two of the parents even participated in the walk.

Every 12 minutes, someone dies by suicide in the United States. Some of these people suffer from mental illnesses that were unsuccessfully treated. Supporting suicide-prevention causes helps save lives.