Chipotle sale will benefit awareness for suicide prevention and potential support groups for those suffering from mental illness at UF and the Gainesville community. UF will host its second Out of the Darkness Walk made possible by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention nonprofit organization. Walk Chair Jaclyn Krantzler said the goal of the OOTD Walk throughout the country is two-fold. “First, to raise money for suicide prevention advocacy and educational programming efforts,” Krantzler said. “Second, to raise awareness of the issues of suicide and mental illness and resources surrounding that issue.” Krantzler brought the Walk to the school for the first time last year. She knew suicide was a problem and that people need to know about it, which inspired her to take action, she said. …show more content…
The flyers cannot be handed out at Chipotle, but can be obtained at Turlington Plaza and online through the club’s Facebook page, Klein said.
The Walk will be April 8 at 8 a.m. at the Flavet Field.
One of the main points of bringing the cause to campus is to educate about suicide because there are more students committing suicide than the number of undergraduate students at UF; the study came out this year, Klein said.
Suicide is one of the top 10 leading causes of death throughout the country for all age groups, and the second leading cause in the United States for college students, Harrington said.
“We want to reduce the rate of suicide by at least 20 percent in the next 10 years,” Harrington said.
It’s such a stigmatized subject. It’s a thick line people don’t want to cross or discuss, Klein said.
“People are so easy to say that they go to physical therapy for a knee problem, but to say that you’re going to mental therapy or behavioral therapy for depression, people look at you different,” Klein said. “Nobody is going to look at you different if you go to therapy for a knee