Trumbull County LOSS has two public events planned for September – Suicide Prevention Month – to honor those lost to suicide, and is creating a number of programs to prevent suicide and let people who have lost someone to suicide know that they’re not alone.
The group’s annual butterfly release will be held at 11 a.m. Sept. 9 on the green in Brookfield Center. A $10 donation is requested. Reserve your butterfly at SuicidePostvention.org/booknow
The next day, LOSS – Local Outreach for Survivors of Suicide Loss – will hold a Stomp Out Stigma Suicide Awareness Walk at Harding Park in Hubbard. Registration begins at 1 p.m. at the bandstand.
Amy Zell, co-founder of Trumbull County LOSS, will share information and resources on suicide postvention and the language of suicide loss at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Brookfield Branch Library, 7032 Grove St.
Thanks to a grant from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, LOSS is creating an initial response team that will respond to suicide scenes with the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office. The idea is to get information on resources to family members and friends immediately.
“It’s gonna help with people feeling like they don’t have somewhere to go, someone to talk to,” Zell said.
Zell lost a 16-year-old son, Tyler Neral, to suicide in 2009, and, at the time, did not know where to go for help.
“There wasn’t anyone to talk to,” she said.
Trumbull County LOSS tries to fill that gap. Zell has become a certified psychological autopsy investigator, who helps determine the causes of suicide. She also is certified in death and grief studies through the Center for Loss and Life Transition, and in thanatology, the study of death and the losses death brings about.
LOSS offers regular support groups and QPR training. QPR, which stands for “question, persuade, refer,” teaches people who come across someone who is struggling and possibly suicidal to talk to them and get them in touch with a trained professional.
“It’s so important we keep talking about suicide and we talk about the warning signs and we talk about the things that we don’t know about it,” Zell said. “There are so many things we don’t know.”
Information on additional Trumbull County LOSS activities is available on the group’s Facebook page.
