Ozark Center’s Beacon of Hope event raises suicide prevention awareness

JOPLIN, Mo. — September is suicide prevention awareness month, a worldwide commitment to preventing suicides.

To do that, the Ozark Center Crisis Services are helping others become a beacon of hope.

"It is taking lives and we want to change that in our community. We want to change that," said Debbie Fitzgerald, Ozark Center Crisis Services Director.

To do that, the Ozark Center Crisis Services kicked off its Beacon of Hope event.

"Citizens can come and learn more about how to be a beacon of hope for someone who's having a crisis that could possibly turn life-threatening," said Fitzgerald.

Ozark Center Crisis Services Director, Debbie Fitzgerald, says an American attempts suicide every 25.5 seconds, and every 10.6 minutes someone's life is lost to it.

Forest Park Baptist Church, The Alliance, American Foundation for Suicide, and Joplin Police Department each set up tables with resources and activities.

"We know that suicide is preventable, but we just don't always know how to go about really talking about it," said Vanessa Vaughan, mother and Ozark Center Suicide Services Youth Behavioral Health Liaison.

Mother and Ozark Center Suicide Services Youth Behavioral Health Liaison, Vanessa Vaughan, brought her preteen to show her ways of understanding mental health.

They chose to place a message of hope in a jar with a lighthouse and one on a board.

"Cadence, a beacon of hope. What would you say to yourself if you were sad? She thought about it and she said and wrote, it's going to get better, and then a smiley face and a star," said Vaughan.

Vaughan hopes events like this can teach her daughter how to express her feelings and continue building a supportive team.

"It's important to me that my daughter understands the dynamics of mental wellness and mental health, especially in the community that she's being raised in, and maybe will one day serve in," said Vaughan.

Fitzgerald hopes they can continue to have more events like this in the future.

"I hope that one person today learns about a resource and then is able to use it and that it brings them some much-needed comfort," said Fitzgerald.