In observance of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month a Community Vigil will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Los Fresnos United High School on FM 803.
There will be a Remembrance Walk as well as luminaries which will be available for those who would like to decorate one in remembrance of a loved one or simply raise awareness.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is one death by suicide in the United States every 12 minutes.
Daniel Soto, a supervisor at the Youth and Family Department at Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, said this is the third year the agency holds such an event and hopes the public will attend.
“We are hoping this will be the biggest that we have. That’s our goal to always improve on what we did last year.”
Soto said virtually everyone has been touched by suicide and this is the chance to help each other.
The previous two vigils were held at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Brownsville campus.
The Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District reached out to TTBH, and asked if the event could be held in Los Fresnos, Soto said.
“Our goal has been to try and expand it and continue to raise awareness for suicide prevention. We thought it is a good opportunity to continue raising awareness and destigmatizing the topic of mental health and suicide,” Soto said.
The CDC also reports:
>>Suicide is the 10thleading cause of death in the United States for all ages
>>Every day approximately 123 Americans die by suicide.
>>There is one suicide for every estimated 25 suicide attempts
>>There is one suicide for every estimated 4 suicide attempts in the elderly
>>Suicide takes the lives of over 44,965 Americans every year
“It is open to everybody, we encourage everybody (to attend,) because really suicide is something that now a days is affecting everyone across all populations and all age ranges,” Soto said.
