September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The Tillamook County Suicide Prevention Coalition put proclamations before the county commissioners and city council in Tillamook to have September recognized as Suicide Prevention Awareness and Action Month. This highlights that we are moving from solely awareness to actionable steps folks can take to help prevent suicide in Tillamook County as well.
The first step in preventing suicide is destigmatizing mental health, suicide, and help seeking behavior. To do this we need to start to have open and honest conversations about those topics. Suicide is not an easy subject to talk about, nor is mental health. Mental health and suicide are often “taboo” subjects as there are religious, societal, and other beliefs that have created myths and misinformation that have made them off limits to talk about. We want to change this in our county.
One of the Coalition’s efforts to help start these difficult conversations is to distribute Don’t Give Up signs throughout the entire county. We would love to see them up at businesses, community organizations, private residences and more. The Coalition obtained these signs as part of the grant they received in 2023 and their partnership with the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs and the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide. There were a round of signs distributed last year and some of those still remain up yet many were removed or taken. We at the Coalition want to see these positive and supportive messages go up and remain up as long as possible to help support our prevention efforts and our community.
The Don’t Give Up signs were started by Amy Wolff in Newberg, Oregon in May of 2017. She wanted to spread positivity throughout her community after learning about local suicide rates. She felt hopeless and unsure how to be a part of the solution as she wasn’t a mental health professional. Yet she had had the idea for the encouraging signs for a while and finally went for it. And what started as a passion project became a movement. And we are proud to be a part of that movement and bring it to Tillamook County.
If you would like a sign to participate in the movement to spread positivity, encouragement, and help destigmatize mental health and suicide, you can email Coalition Lead Amanda Ferrat at tcspcinfo@gmail.com. Amanda and the rest of the Coalition would like to thank the businesses, organizations, and community members that have kept their signs up since last year. We appreciate your support and know the signs have made a positive impact.
The Coalition would also like to invite folks to join us for a few events this month. On September 10th, World Suicide Prevention Day, there are a few things happening. We have dubbed the 10th “Wear Teal and Purple (or Yellow) Day”. This is to show support for suicide prevention as those colors represent those efforts. So put on your teal, purple or yellow, take a picture, post it to Facebook or Instagram, tag the Coalition at @tillcosuicideprevention, and use hashtags #starttheconversationtillamook and #suicidepreventiontillamook. There just might be prizes involved!
At 5:30pm on the 10th, Sarah Ermer, Prevention Specialist from TFCC, will be hosting QPR & Crafts. QPR is an introductory suicide prevention and intervention training that helps folks learn when and how to ask the Question of if someone is thinking about suicide, Persuade them to stay alive in the moment, and then Refer them to support services. The training will be at the Tillamook Main Library at 5:30pm and it is open and free to the public. That evening we will also have “Light a Candle for Love” from 7:45-8:15pm in the Maxwell Library Park next to the Tillamook Main Library. Come light a candle to honor those lost to suicide, suicide attempt survivors, and suicide loss survivors. We will provide the candles. All are welcome.
On September 18th from 11am-1pm, the Coalition will host Hope in the Community: a Lunch Open House at the Tillamook Main Library in the Hatfield Room. Come drop in, have lunch, and meet members of the Coalition. You can learn about who we are, what we are doing to help prevent suicide in our communities, and ways you can get involved. It is drop in style and all are welcome.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health crisis or thoughts of suicide, please call or text the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. You can also chat with them online or find out more at https://988lifeline.org/. Tillamook County has a Crisis Team through Tillamook Family Counseling Center as well and they can be reached at (503)842-8201, press 0 and ask to be connected to the crisis team. Please take care of yourselves and each other. It can be as simple as asking if someone is okay to save a life. Start a conversation. Be the difference. Save a life.