September was Suicide Awareness Month and Lighthouse Behavioral Wellness Centers had outreach programs at Southeastern as well as Murray State and Seminole State.
At Southeastern, there was an event at the student union and a candlelight vigil in the evening.
Ginger Daniel is the social media coordinator for Lighthouse and she planned the September campaign. The theme was, “Let Hope Rise.”
“We had full days of outreach to those communities,” Daniel said. “So, we started at the college and we did table events and handed out important materials on mental health. Gave out our crisis number to college students and handed out coffee and really just wanted to impact the community there and let the college students know that we’re available for them.”
Lighthouse also provided Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training to Southeastern staff. Daniel said QPR is training on how to help someone in a mental health crisis, especially if the person is suicidal. She said the training was provided to 20 SE staff members.
“The vigil was open to the whole community but it was hosted at those colleges and we used the vigil to honor those lost to suicide and those who loved them and we had a fantastic story to share, really a testimonial from one of our own employees named Clayton Clark and we did a video featuring his story and allowed him to share his personal story as a suicide survivor and how now he works for Lighthouse, impacting other lives and helping those people who’ve been through what he went through,” Daniel said.
Once homeless, addicted and on the verge of ending his life, Clark found healing through the Choctaw Nation’s Men’s Recovery Center and continued his recovery with Lighthouse, where he now uses his lived experience to guide others. Today, he supports individuals in crisis, walks alongside those in recovery and speaks at events to break the stigma surrounding mental illness and substance use.
According to Lighthouse, at the core of Clark’s transformation is a deep collaboration between Lighthouse and the Choctaw Nation. Together, the two organizations have created a responsive network of support, connecting individuals to mental health care, peer recovery services and the state’s first Children’s Urgent Recovery Center. This partnership ensures people in even the most rural parts of southern Oklahoma have access to high-quality care.
According to Daniel, nationally people over age 75 have the highest suicide rate, but in Oklahoma, the highest rate is among 35-44 year olds.
“The thing is that Oklahoma has had a higher suicide rate than the national average for almost two decades,” Daniel said. “There’s been studies done by the CDC and the Healthy Minds Policy Institute that show us that Oklahoma just really needs help and so yeah, it has increased but we also want to increase awareness. So, Oklahoma does have higher numbers and so we’re here to address that and we want to provide every resource we can to tell people that there’s help and there’s hope after.” Josh Meo, director of marketing and creative services for Lighthouse said the 988 number is a great resource for those in crisis and that Lighthouse partners to help their efforts. Lighthouse also has a crisis hotline, 1-800-5221090.
“You’re talking to local Lighthouse team members that will answer your crisis call and get help to you immediately,” Meo said. “That is another option that we like to promote for people. 988 is a great resource and we also have a local resource in order to help people.”
Jordan Sampson, marketing coordinator for Lighthouse, said suicide is a difficult subject that in the past, many have not wanted to talk about.
“We want to begin to normalize conversations and make it routine to check on your family and friends and so college events, speaking to the kids who are going through stress and high amounts of depression now while they’re going through school, but then also QPR training is how to easily have that conversation and not worry about the stigma that used to follow suicide prevention,” Sampson said. “So, talking with family and friends and how to get them to that help is really how we open the door with those groups and success for us would be more open conversations among students, among co-workers. Essentially everyone can play a part in prevention and we’re trying to help everyone recognize that part that they play.”