(The Center Square) – September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and an Illinois-based nonprofit has launched a prevention campaign in schools around the state.
When a Glenview couple lost their 14-year-old daughter Erika to adolescent depression, they turned her suffering into hope for other families, and Erika’s Lighthouse was born. The organization creates upper elementary, middle school and high school mental health, depression and suicide awareness programs so educators, families, and teens can create safe spaces to learn about mental health.
“Last year, Erika’s Lighthouse impacted over 725,000 students around the world,” Executive Director Brandon Combs said. “We’re currently in just over 2,400 schools with about 1,000 of those schools are in the state of Illinois, and we also do a significant amount of work with Chicago Public Schools.”
Comb’s organization, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, has kicked off the “Give Voice to Suicide Prevention” campaign, which is focused on the importance of having mental health education for students.
“Really helping youth early in the school year, in particular, for suicide prevention week, focused on the idea of giving voice to something, so a lot of it is to themselves,” said Combs. “Give voice to education, give voice to help seeking, give voice to positivity.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health says on average every five hours and 41 minutes someone dies by suicide in this state.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can reach out to the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. There are seven call centers in Illinois that answer 988.