Local Events Highlight Day For Suicide Survivors To Remember
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Saturday is International Survivors of Suicide Day, which will feature local events focusing on how to how to prevent.
Every 17 minutes someone in America falls victim to suicide, and every 17 minutes another survivor is left to deal with the loss.
"That day changed my life forever," says Shelly Leaphart-Williams, who lost her nephew. Matthew. to suicide six years ago.
She says the bright, friendly 22-year-old had battled depression for years and then one day....
"He decided to give up hope."
A therapist by trade, Leaphart Williams is on the board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Philadelphia, and says Survivors of Suicide Day is opportunity for survivors to heal -- and to raise awareness about mental illness:
"When someone has a physical disease, we go and visit that person, but what happens when someone is suffering from a mental crisis, some type of depression. We kind of shun away from that."
Survivor Day activities are scheduled in Wynnewood and in Huntingdon Valley.