Editor’s note: This story includes mention of suicide.
The annual Out of the Darkness Walk for suicide awareness is this Sunday at Switchyard Park. For local chapter committee member Anna Lericos, an IU freshman, it’s not all solemn and sad. The walk is also about community.
“We want it to be upbeat and know that you’re not alone,” Lericos said.
The 1.68-mile loop around the park will begin at 2 p.m. Along with the walk, the event will include a Loss and Healing Tent for participants to speak with a trained member about grief and loss. The tent will also feature resources from AFSP and Stride, Bloomington's community crisis center. The free event is hosted by the Bloomington chapter of the Out of the Darkness Walk, a branch of the non-profit American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Prior to the walk is an Honor Bead Ceremony, where participants may choose from a variety of beaded necklaces, each color representing the loss of someone meaningful, from the loss of a sibling, child, parent and more. There are also beads available for those honoring the LGBTQ+ community and for those there to support AFSP’s cause.
“It’s not every day that somebody walks around with the color bead of who they’ve lost to suicide or who they’ve lost,” Lericos said. “I haven’t been to one personally, but I think it’s going to be really eye opening because it’s a very lonely feeling when something like that happens to you.”
While the walk is free and open to the community, donations are encouraged. Donation amounts have ranged from $50, which can provide AFSP educational materials to 25 people, to $5,000, which helps place AFSP’s Interactive Screening Program at a university.
Committee chair Lisa Osmon said people can also volunteer by submitting an application to bloomingtonwalk.afspin@gmail.com.
“It’s something to give back to your community,” Osmon said. “Whether suicide prevention is your calling or not, whether it’s something that you’ve experienced or not, I have always believed in the power of contributing to your community and to me, this was just a calling.”
This year is Osmon’s fifth year working with the committee. She became involved shortly after she attended a walk in 2019, due to her daughter having gone through a mental health crisis in 2014.
“When we went, I mean, we were overwhelmed, but at the same time, we just felt so accepted,” Osmon said. “The main goal that I wanted to get across to my daughter was, you are not alone.”
Committee member Alex Clanton is an IU graduate student in the mental health counseling program at the School of Education. He initially participated in walks in Chesterton, Indiana, before moving to Bloomington to attend IU, where he joined the committee board last year. This will be his eighth year attending the Out of the Darkness Walks.
When Clanton attended his first walk, he was weary that the event would be “a big grief fest,” but to his surprise, it was positive.
“I just saw connection. I saw compassion, empathy, sympathy, all of the above,” Clanton said. “I just really saw so many different things that you really don’t feel like outside of that space a lot of times anymore.”
Lericos shared the same sentiment, emphasizing that the goal of the walk is for the community to gather and bond.
“It’s going to be pretty fun, too, it’s not just all solemn and sad,” she said.
Participants can pre-register for the walk online or in person on the day of the walk. To register or donate, visit the Out of the Darkness website.
