CG Lifesavers support suicide prevention

Ian Kelly & Mylee Grounds with Lindsey MacDonald & Lexi Wallman | Story

The CG Lifesavers Committee is preparing to participate in the Out of The Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk on Saturday for the second year. This time, though, they made a big push to get more students and teachers involved.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15-to-19 year olds. The rates of deaths by suicide have grown tremendously over the last 30 years. The Out of the Darkness Walk was started to combat this rising trend by raising funds for The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

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The AFSP is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for suicide prevention. All donations go to funding scientific research, starting suicide prevention programs, and investing in educational training for adults.

The CG Lifesavers are very excited to have the opportunity to support such an important cause.

“It’s a great idea for Center Grove to be involved in this because a lot of students are affected by this,” CG Social worker and co-sponsor of the CG Lifesavers Daniel Weems said. “If more people were aware and felt more comfortable talking about suicide prevention and their struggles with suicidal thoughts, there’d be more help available to them.”

School psychiatrist and CG Lifesavers co-sponsor Lindsay O’Haver believes it’s crucial to raise awareness for the cause. In the years O’Haver has worked, there has been a spike in the amount of depression and anxiety cases she handles.

“I think mental health is something that we need to be talking about more. I think we need to be supporting more because numbers have definitely increased,” she said.

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