Glacial Lakes SAFE (Suicide Awareness For Everyone) is a local coalition that had been initially formed to organize a Suicide Prevention Awareness Walk in September 2015. With the success and community support of that event, the group began meeting regularly in order to identify and take steps to expand suicide awareness, prevention, and services.
These committed helping professionals who founded SAFE felt there was a lack of resources and services to help young people in the Watertown community; as well as a lack of community awareness and acceptance that suicide is a serious concern, given the local data at hand. While we have made much progress, there is still more work to be done with suicide prevention.
Our goal is to Empower the Glacial Lakes community to prioritize mental health and destigmatize suicide, crisis, and mental health conditions. We need to illustrate the importance of caring for one’s mental health is important for every community member.
Since its beginning in 2015, the Glacial Lakes SAFE coalition continues to work with many organizations to keep our youth and young adults healthy and safe - and we realize that not one entity can do it alone. We appreciate all of our partners in this journey, whether it is providing training and presentations for those who may come into contact with someone having thoughts of suicide, training peers to notice the signs, increasing awareness of the mental health resources and services available, and encouraging anyone that it is ok to reach out to someone if you are concerned about them.
We also would like to take just a moment to thank all of those who have played a role in creating HOPE within our community. The efforts of the school district, community organizations and businesses have taken the steps to expand suicide awareness by increasing prevention and educational opportunities and making trainings, resources, and services more accessible.
SAVE the Date!! Our annual Suicide Prevention Awareness Day is scheduled for Saturday, September 14th at the National Guard Readiness Center. There will be a 22-mile Ruck march that morning, 5K run/mile walk in the afternoon, and a Remembrance Ceremony beginning at 4:30pm. For more information or free resources, contact Kelli at
kellir@humanserviceagency.org or
www.humanserviceagency.org/glsafe