By Karen Blackledge
TURBOTVILLE — Three Warrior Run High School graduates are working to raise awareness about suicide, help prevent suicide and support families and friends who have lost loved ones to something often referred to as a “hush, hush subject.” The siblings from the Miller family all have known someone who committed suicide, according to Judy Miller who now lives in Maryland.
Her brother Joe, of Williamsport, has organized a Walk to Prevent Suicide themed “Out of the Darkness” to be held starting at 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at Penn College in Williamsport.
The walk is the first of its kind in Lycoming County, according to the Millers who grew up in the Turbotville area.
Joe is manager of audio/visual services at The Pennsylvania College of Technology and is a trained support group facilitator for people who have lost loved ones to suicide and hosts a support group that meets in Muncy.
Judy has organized several National Survivors of Suicide Day events in Washington, D.C., with one coming up Nov. 21 and worked with a college professor who published a paper from the diary of a suicide victim.
Judy works in Washington, D.C., and two blocks from the White House, serving as vice president of Union Privilege, a branch of the AFL-CIO which provides benefits and services to labor union members.
Their sister, Janice, a neurologist in Bolder, Colo., volunteers at a thrift shop that supports suicide prevention and distributes lists of help and resources at the Boulder, Colo., hospital ER.
The Williamsport walk is scheduled along with others across the country where thousands of people will be walking this fall to raise money, through pledges, donations and registration fees, to support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
“The walks are a great way for folks to come together to recognize publicly a major public health concern in our area — one that is often not openly discussed. They also serve as a networking aid, bringing folks together whose lives have been touched by such a loss,” Joe said. “It lets them know that they are not alone and that there is hope to rise above the ashes of grief, shock and despair that often can accommodate such a tragedy,” he said.
No attendance or financial goals have been set for the first walk. “Twenty-five walkers raising $5,000 would be a major success and would give us a starting point for the future,” Joe said.
Judy said the foundation is at the forefront of research, education and prevention initiatives aimed at reducing deaths from suicide.
“Because every 16 minutes someone in the U.S. dies by suicide, this mission has become more and more critical,” she said.
The Miller siblings will all be walking in the Williamsport event.
“More people than you would ever imagine are touched by suicide. I talk openly about suicide so people dealing with this tragedy know to come to me for help and resources. My goal is to bring suicide, as well as all mental health issues, out in the open and remove the stigma surrounding it,” said Judy, a 1971 Warrior Run graduate.
Janice graduated from Warrior Run in 1974. Joe is a 1983 graduate.
Judy said the walk is a “combination of fundraising as well as raising awareness” about suicide.
“People have to talk about mental illness and suicide. Suicide needs to come out of the closet,” she said.
The walk will be the 10th for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Pennsylvania this year and up from six last year. Eleven others are planned across the Commonwealth next year, according to Joe.
The foundation is the leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research and education and to reaching out to people with mood disorders and those impacted by suicide. It funds scientific research, offers educational programs for professionals, educates the public abut mood disorders and suicide prevention, promotes policies and legislation impacting suicide and prevention, provides programs and resources for survivors of suicide loss and provides programs and resources for people with mood disorders and their families.
The foundation uses 84.7 percent of donations received for programs and 15.3 percent for administrative costs.
To register or donate for the walk, visit www.outofthedarkness.org or contact Joe at joe.miller@pct.edu.
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Be alert to suicide warnings
According to the American Association of Suicidology, there are warning signs of suicide.
Warning signs of acute risk of suicide are threatening to hurt or kill oneself, talking of wanting to hurt or kill oneself or looking for ways to kill oneself by seeking access to firearms, available pills or other means and or talking or writing about death, dying or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinary. This might be remembered as expressed or communicated ideation. If observed, seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or calling (800) 273-TALK (8255) for a referral.
Additional warning signs are increased substance (alcohol or drug) use, no reason for living, no sense of purpose in life, anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep or sleeping all the time, feeling trapped like there’s no way out, hopelessness, withdrawing from friends, family and society, rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge, acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking and dramatic mood changes.
According to the suicidology association, survivors of suicide are not looking for their lives to return to what they were because things will never go back how they were. Common emotions they experience are shock, pain, anger, despair, depression, sadness, rejection, abandonment, denial, numbness, shame, disbelief, stress, guilt, loneliness and anxiety.
The best thing a friend can do is listen, according to the association. Ask the survivor if and how you can help.
Let the survivor talk at his or her own pace to share with you when and what he or she is ready to.
Be patient since repetition is a part of the healing process and survivors may need to tell their story over and over.
Use the loved one’s name instead of he or she to comfort the survivor.
Your presence and unconditional listening is what a survivor is looking for.
Don’t tell the survivor how he or she should act, what to feel or that he or she should be better by now.
Avoid saying “I know how you feel” unless you are a survivor.
For more information, visit www.suicidology.org.
