Suicide memorial walk scheduled for Nov. 14 at Southside Community Park

NEW PHILADELPHIA — After a year off due to COVID-19, the Suicide Prevention Coalition is resuming its annual suicide memorial walk.

The event will be held Nov. 14 at Southside Community Park at 1320 Old Town Valley Road in New Philadelphia. Signs will be posted along Old Town Valley Road directing visitors to the location.

The walk will begin at 4 p.m. Registration begins at 3:30 p.m. The walk will begin near the soccer fields and continue to the pollinator garden. The path will be lined with luminarias. 

The speaker will be Sandy Williams, chair of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. She will speak in the pollinator garden. 

A bell will ring for each person lost to suicide locally.

The event is meant for those who have had a friend, family or loved one die by suicide, or want to support persons that have experienced a loss.

"Our goal was to honor the loss, and the loved one and I hope that what we have put together will do that," said Natalie Bollon, executive director of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties.

Bollon is one-third of the Suicide Prevention Coalition, which is organizing the memory walk. The other members are Jodi Salvo, coordinator of the Tuscarawas County Anti-Drug Coalition, and Veronica Spidell, manager of community services for the ADAMHS Board.

The coalition is under the umbrella of the anti-drug coalition.

"It's all prevention efforts, whether it's drug and alcohol prevention, whether its suicide prevention," Bollon said.

The coalition's goal is to take suicide prevention and awareness into schools and the broader community, Bollon said.

The number of suicide attempts and completions rose during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 13 suicides in Tuscarawas County in 2020, and nine as of the end of September this year, Bollon said. 

"Our whole world has just changed in 18 months," Salvo said.

"It's the isolation, it's the stress," Bollon said.

"It's fear of the unknown, fear of where we're headed, people that have lost loved ones," said Gwen Malcuit, behavioral health clinical director of SpringVale Health Centers, formerly known as Community Mental Healthcare. "A lot of people have talked about having loved ones dying, or that have died, and their inability to be with them at that moment because of the quarantines and restrictions, and kind of having to watch that process from afar."

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other child health care providers have found an increase in child and adolescent mental health concerns and crises, Bollon said.

Although it can be hard for parents to hear a child say they need counseling, Bollon considers it a step in the right director.

"We, as a behavioral health system, are really trying so hard to decrease stigma and let kids know that it's OK to talk to someone when you're struggling, and that's part of the human condition to have tough times," Bollon said. "And when they feel comfortable enough letting their parents know that what's happening with them is severe enough that they would like some additional support, while it's heartbreaking, it's also incredibly positive."

One of the goals of the memory walk to let people know that it's OK to talk about suicide, Malcuit said.

"Whether you are a survivor, and you're struggling with that grief, or you're the person who is experiencing thoughts of suicide, if we're not talking about it, then our ability to do anything about it is just completely crippled," Malcuit said. "We have to talk about it."

Malcuit is now leading the Survivors of Suicide Loss Support Group of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties. The group is for those who have lost friends or family members to suicide. Kristie Wilkin of Newcomerstown previously served as group facilitator for eight years.

The support group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the ADAMHS Board offices, 119 Garland Drive SW, New Philadelphia. Pre-registration is not needed for the meetings. There is no charge.

The group's activities are determined by the needs of its members, according to Malcuit.

"We're going to go where the group needs us to go," she said. "It's really about processing that grief and learning how to work through that, to live with that and to come out the other side understanding that we can still be happy, we can still love, we can still look forward to the future. And ultimately, ideally, we give back to others who are just starting that journey."

Malcuit lost her cousin to suicide about five years ago.

"I think it helps to have someone in that role that understands that unique type of grief," Malcuit said. "I think it's very helpful to be able to tap into that. The majority of my professional career has been working with suicide prevention, suicide awareness, individuals that are in a state of crisis."

Check the ADAMHS Board Facebook page for any cancellation notice about the suicide memory walk in case of inclement weather. 

Questions may be directed to the ADAMHS Board at 330-364-6488.