Amanda Coker, an adjunct instructor at the Kitty Degree School of Nursing, recently realized the lack of suicide prevention resources in northeast Louisiana and decided to make a change.
She is directing the area’s first “Hope Walks Here” suicide prevention walk at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, working with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to help stop suicides in the community.
The walk will be held on April 13, at the ULM Activity Center at 8 a.m. The event is free to the public and donations will be accepted.
“I became passionate about suicide awareness because I lost my brother to suicide in 2010,” Coker said.
According to the AFSP, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in America. Nearly 80 percent of suicides are done by white males.
Coker said she wished to raise awareness in the area and got in contact with the AFSP to help bring an event like the “Hope Walks Here” walk to the area.
“We’re doing a campus walk here; the funds raised from this event could bring other programs to the school such as safe talks,” Coker said.
According to Coker, a safe talk is a program that teaches people how to speak to someone who is suffering and contemplating suicide. They are trained in suicide prevention.
For more information about the “Hope Walks Here” suicide prevention walk please visit afsp.org/ulm.