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Today is National Suicide Awareness Day. We had a special guest in our studio this morning to talk about an awareness walk coming up in October.

Paula Shelby is a suicide prevention advocate. She joined Madison and Shepherd in the 95.3 The Bear Studios to talk about the upcoming walk.

There are some staggering statistics concerning suicide in the U.S. According to  The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's website, aspf.org:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the United States, including deaths by suicide. In 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available), 38,364 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every 13.7 minutes.

 

Paula recently said in a Facebook post:

Walk to save lives. In the US a person dies by suicide every 15 minutes. Claiming more than 36,000 lives a year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students, and the third for youth ages 15-24, with adolescent depression undiagnosed, and untreated.
Go to afsp.org and go to campus walks and click on the Tuscaloosa walk and register. You can register under Team Darla or just register and come participate. Its a few laps around the quad and that's it. Suicide is a side effect of depression as a heart attack is to heart disease. The money raised will go for a good cause. Help get the word out in schools and such. A lot of you will be doing the color run, some have done the relay for life. Come do this. just 2 or 3 laps. It will be Sunday October13th from 2-4 and registration will start at 1.

Most people are ashamed of this. At first I was because I didn't know how to handle it. But, I don't want others to go through the pain I have. Its preventable

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