Aware group to focus on suicide and other awareness issues
“Not one more” was the phrase the discussion kept coming back to.
Some in the room had met through their children in years past, and some had met recently through a Facebook page. But during a planning meeting in March, they all came together with one focus, that “not one more in our community is lost due to substance abuse, depression, struggles, despair or suicide.”
This became a mission for the leaders behind Aware, a group whose message is gaining strength in the community.
Aware began in February through Mountain Brook parent Sandy Tinsley Lanter. In response to the deaths of three of her son’s good friends over the span of about a year and a half, Lanter started the “Aware” Facebook group.
The closed group quickly grew to more than 600 members who posted resources and engaged in discussion. Through the page, a planning committee arose in March to take more formal action in the community.
“I can’t imagine the grief the families have faced but fully know the sadness and stress we have faced,” Lanter said of her family’s experience. “It’s time to wake up and help each other. Silence is no longer golden in our town. People are dying.”
Members of the committee said they agree with Lanter about the group’s purpose and direction. Most said the issues Aware seeks to address have directly affected them, including Mary Matheson Balkovetz, whose son, Tom, committed suicide in November.
“I hope everyone else I love or will love, and all the people they love or will love, avoid that decision,” she said.
Joye Coons Madden, who has children in elementary school, said she hopes to help reach out to parents of younger children through Aware.
“Because our children are still young, we have time to educate them and ourselves,” she said. “Life comes with struggles and curves, but if we are aware, we can start today with empowering our kids to know when and who to ask for help.”
Committee member Lulu Null said she suffers from depression. She said she grew tired of being quiet about her illness and her story.
“I want depression to be a disease discussed like cancer or diabetes,” she said. “I want more people to understand the signs and symptoms of suicide and depression.”
Null also started a blog, Surviving the Darkness (lulunull13.wordpress.com), so others might understand what a person battling depression might feel. She said a key to her personal mission is the same as the group’s — that no one would ever be on their own.
“I am hoping people will not feel so alone. That they might turn to someone earlier than they normally would or before it is too late,” she said.
Having faced mental illness, suicidal ideation and attempt, and loss of a loved one to eating disorders herself, Kat Lawson said it’s time address issues like these.
“No longer can we afford to think of mental health issues, despair or hopelessness as weakness,” she said. “No longer can we view these issues with shame and fear. We have all been touched in our community. It is time to drop the mask, open our hearts, minds and eyes to what is going on and without fear stand up and say ‘Not one more.’”
Committee member Anne Mancer planned the first Aware event held in March. It featured a speaker from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at the Mountain Brook Municipal Complex.
Aware leaders are now asking for community feedback as they plan their next steps and are encouraging people to take the survey and join their Facebook group, both linked below.
- Take the Aware survey
- Visit the Aware Facebook group