An Out of the Darkness Community Walk, the first walk of its kind to take place in Johnson City, will be held on ETSU’s campus on Saturday from 9:45 a.m. until noon to raise awareness about suicide and suicide prevention.
From people struggling with suicidal thoughts, to people affected by the loss of a loved one, to people who are just passionate about prevention; anyone can participate in the walk. The event is free and open to the public. Participants can register online until noon on Friday, or they can register in person during check-in on Saturday.
The event is also a fundraiser. Donations will go toward the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to help them continue to advocate for suicide prevention and break down stigmas surrounding suicide, depression and mental health. Donations for the walk will be accepted until Dec. 31.
Participants may wear “honor beads” during the walk. The beads represent the participants’ personal connections to the topic of suicide. There are nine different colors of beads to represent survivors, people struggling, people who have lost friends and family members, people supporting suicide prevention and more.
There will also be a memorial board in which people can bring memories and reminders of people they have lost, whether that be a photograph or a sticky note with someone’s name on it. The board will recognize those people and let them know they are not forgotten.
The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network has provided a keynote speaker, Molly Colley, who will speak at the event.
Additionally, local community agencies have registered to come and share information about their resources with participants.
“Anyone that has community services that would be beneficial to survivors and their families; we want those agencies to be able to give out the resources and let them know that they’re here,” said Julia Bernard, committee member of the walk and chair of ETSU’s Counseling and Human Services department.
Bernard said the goal of the walk is to unite people under the topic of suicide, get people to show support for one another and to show people that they are not alone.
“I think those that are left behind often feel like they don’t have support because there are such stigma barriers between getting that kind of support in the community,” Bernard said.
“There is going to be a lot of community resources around so that people can get some more information about the help that is here in our community,” Bernard said. “I think that’s going to be one of our huge takeaways. We want people to leave here with the sense that there is hope and that people can get the help that they need in our community.”
The walk, sponsored and hosted by ETSU, is primarily organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The AFSP is dedicated to research, the creation of education programs, advocation for public policy and support for survivors of suicide loss.
Check-in and registration will begin at 8:15 a.m. at the ETSU Intramural Field near the Center for Physical Activity. The program will begin at 9 a.m. The walk will start at the field at 9:45 a.m., and the route will be roughly one mile long.
