September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month to help spread the message about this serious public health issue.
Redstone Arsenal will hold the “Out of the Darkness Into the Light” 5K Run/1K Walk and Mental Health and Wellness Resource Fair on Thursday, Sept. 8 to promote suicide prevention.
The activities will include a Mental Health and Wellness Resource Fair and Redstone Townhall gathering hosted by Garrison Commander Col. Brian Cozine immediately following the run.
Registration will begin at 6:30 a.m. at 3467 Vincent Drive, the ChildWise building. Opening remarks will be made at 6:45 and the run will start at 7.
Wanda Gilbert, Army Substance Abuse Program manager/division chief in the Garrison’s Directorate of Human Resources, is lead coordinator for the event. She said this is one way Redstone leaders are working to increase awareness on suicide prevention.
“We have teamed up with the Redstone Senior Commander’s Readiness and Resilience Council, tenant organizations, and our community partners to make this event a success. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families and communities,” Gilbert said. “ASAP is leading the charge and Team Redstone has accepted the challenge to collectively spread awareness to help minimize the stigma associated with suicide and to encourage people to seek help.
“We have coined the hashtag #ONETEAMONEFIGHT to commemorate this sentiment and have adopted the theme ‘Out of the Darkness Into the Light’ as the Redstone Arsenal Suicide Prevention Awareness Month theme. I think this event is important because it allows us to bring suicide prevention to the forefront of everyone’s mind and find ways to foster connectedness at every level.”
This will be an educational event intended to reach as many people as possible. Anyone with access to the installation can participate.
“We’re having information tables at the event. Representatives from Redstone and community organizations will provide participants with material on wellness, financial, family and veteran resources and services,” Gilbert said. “I think this event is important because it allows us to bring this topic to the forefront of everyone’s mind in a safe environment. We have to take care of and support one another. Come out and join us – wear your neon to support suicide prevention awareness. We’re in this together.”
For more information about this event, call the Army Substance Abuse Program at 842-7465.
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