Don’t kill yourself, life is precious! This underlying fact was the highlight of the morning march that was under taken by 1000 people, who will take to the streets in Kaukauna, as a part of the Walk for Suicide Awareness .
Largest walk in Wisconsin
The largest walk in Wisconsin , called the Walk for Suicide Awareness is being organized for the fourth year, and it is committed to make people aware about suicide .
The event was launched in 2010, by Barb Bigalke, who firmly feels for the issue “I look at it as just that many more feet on the ground in an effort to bringing awareness to the issue and working together. It’s a time for people to talk and share their personal stories,” she stated.
Trauma of suicide
There are many people who have been caught up by the suicide trauma in their lives and Ellen Yaucher a Kaukauna resident who has lost her near ones to this deadly step, is taking part in this suicide walk for the second time and she emotionally exclaims “It’s a day to honor them and talk about suicide openly with people who relate,” Yaucher further said, “You see people who are afraid to use the word suicide, but with the events that just occurred this week, I want people to know there is a place they can turn — kids especially.”
Grief counseling
This walk is being planned because of the suicide committed by High School freshman from Kaukauna. After this gruesome disaster the school has decided to provide grief counseling to the staff and the students and has also decided to start the Trauma and Loss in Children plan.
Bigalke insisted that awareness regarding suicide is a must and the people around the victim need to decipher the “plea for help” symptoms that the people planning to end their lives give out, “Suicide is something that carries a lot of stigma, so bringing a lot of awareness to it brings about the opportunity for change,” she stated.
Very rarely is the state of the victim’s family ever given consideration and Bigalke who worked for the Fox Cities Victim Crisis Response Team, feels “It came from seeing the impact of working with law enforcement giving those death notifications, because it has such a ripple effect and it affects so many people,” she said. “It’s different than other kinds of deaths, because we can’t answer that question of why?
“If someone dies in a car accident, that’s the why portion. With suicide, you can’t answer those infinite why questions.”
