Family and Friends Gather For Support and Healing Via National Program and Online Broadcast
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Nov 17, 2003--A person dies by suicide every eighteen minutes in the United States. And with every suicide, there are hundreds of thousands of family members, friends and co-workers -- ''survivors'' -- left behind to cope with this tragic loss. On Saturday, Nov. 22, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will sponsor its fifth annual National Survivors of Suicide Day, linking thousands of survivors of suicide through a national program offering support, healing, information and empowerment to those in need.
The national program will be broadcast to local conference sites nationwide from 12:00-1:45 p.m. EST. The program will also be broadcast online at www.afsp.org, and an online chat will be available, offering survivors an additional forum to talk to fellow survivors and share their own stories. The online broadcast will ensure that survivors can participate even if there isn`t a local conference in their area, or if they find it difficult to attend in
person.
''National Survivors of Suicide Day is designed to help survivors express and understand the troubling and powerful emotions they have experienced by linking them with other survivors,'' Robert Gebbia, executive director of AFSP, said. ''Since 1999, we have seen the conference grow steadily each year, reaching a record of more than 50 conference sites this year. This growth shows that there is really a need out there for survivors to connect with others who have survived a similar tragedy.''
The national program will feature doctors, scientists and veteran survivors from across the country. The keynote speaker will be Dr. J. Raymond DePaulo Jr., psychiatrist-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and author of Understanding Depression: What We Know and What You Can Do About It. Following the national portion of the program, small group workshops will be held nationwide at local conferences to provide attendees the opportunity to share their personal stories.
''The survivors of suicide loss need comfort, support and trusted listeners with whom they can discuss their grief,'' Dr. DePaulo said. ''And many survivors find their relief voicing their feelings and learning from the experience of others. This event gives them a venue for doing so.''
For more information about National Survivors of Suicide Day, to find a conference site nearest you, or to register for the webcast, log on to www.afsp.org.
More About Suicide/Depression
-- Each year, nearly 30,000 people in the United States die by suicide.
-- 90 percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.
-- Currently, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is the only national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to funding research, developing prevention initiatives and offering educational programs and conferences for survivors, mental health professionals, physicians and the public.
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