*Any names beginning with a ‘C’ are made up for privacy reasons.

On April 22, 2018, Buck County Technical High School hosted the third annual suicide prevention walk around their campus to support the #HoldOnYouMatter campaign.

In 2015, Pennsylvania had the 29th highest suicide rate in the nation, and according to Mental Health America, suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 15-24.

BCTHS has been hosting the Hold On You Matter walk for three years because of the mass amounts of people who have had to deal with a suicide in their family. “I don’t think people know just how common it is,” Claire said. “So many people have to deal with this sort of tragedy, and people in our area need to speak up and make themselves heard. Suicide is preventable.”

Dawn Cedar is the walk coordinator and a retiree from the department of mental health. She helped kickstart the walk at BCTHS, and her goal is to raise enough awareness about the rates of suicide in our area, and to try and prevent it. “It’s a really fun and uplifting event. It really honors people’s memory, and tries to help people remember that there is another route to take than taking their own life. A big part of this is about raising awareness, and in order to that, we need to raise the funds for different efforts in the county.”

Diane Marseglia is a social worker and one of the members of the comitee who organize the walk each year. Her daughter, a student at Neshaminy High School, commited suicide in her junior year. Since then, she has dedicated her life to suicide prevention. “There’s an option. There are people out there who care.”

If you or someone you know is depressed or experiencing suicidal thoughts and/or actions, please get help from The National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.