TREMONTON – The <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/NBECSPC/”>Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition</a> (NBECSPC) will host its 2017 Suicide Awareness Walk on Friday, July 14, 2017 at <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeanie-Stevens-Park/182336561816906″>Jeanie Stevens Park</a> in Tremonton. The annual event is free of charge and begins at 7:30 p.m. with chalk art, distribution of memorial beads and event registration. A pre-walk program will take place at 7:45 p.m., with the walk itself being held from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“What the chalk is if you want to leave a message for someone you’ve lost to suicide on the path that we’re going to be walking as a way to remember them,” said Jenny Schultz, a member of the NBECSPC. “And the beads let everybody know, ‘Oh, they’ve lost a father or a mother or a sister.’ We have them at the event as a way to let people honor their loved ones and to let everybody else know or be reminded that we really do lose our parents or our siblings or our kids to suicide.”
Schultz said the pre-walk program will give participants an opportunity to talk about suicide and mental illness and start remembering loved ones who have been lost.
“It really is a night for families who have lost someone to suicide to come out and be able to mourn,” she said. “Often, when you lose someone to suicide, that’s kind of taken away from you. Everybody’s so interested in how they died that they forget these were moms and dads and real people, so it’s a time that we can kind of remember them.”
Schultz said the Suicide Awareness Walk is designed to facilitate healing.
“What surprises me the most is you think it’s going to be sad,” she said, “but I think there’s a lot more peace because you get to be with other people who understand what you’ve been through, and you really do get to remember the good traits.”
Registration for the one-mile walk is available <a href=”https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-northern-box-elder-county-suicide-awareness-walk-registration-35462679830#tickets”>online</a>, and participants will receive an event t-shirt while supplies last.
“Even if they don’t register, they can just come and they can be a part of it,” said Schultz. “Everyone is welcome.”
The NBECSPC is a community-based organization established to provide resources and assistance for those affected by suicide and depression in northern Box Elder County.
“Our coalition is made up of people from the community, people from different agencies, people from the hospital or Bear River Mental Health or the health department. We’re kind of just a community coalition.”
<hr />
<strong> </strong>