DUBOIS – The Clearfield Jefferson Suicide Prevention Team’s 10th annual Walk for Suicide Prevention & Awareness will take place Sept. 8 at EJ Mansell Stadium.
This event will kick-off Suicide Prevention Week featuring keynote speaker, Jeff Yalden. He’ll headline the week-long event to be held Sept. 8-12 in the two counties.
He serves as a leading authority on teen motivation and is a renowned expert to school communities for teen mental health awareness, suicide crisis intervention and suicide prevention.
Yalden himself lives proudly with mental illness. Diagnosed with major depression, anxiety, bi-polar type 2 and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he’s transparent and authentic regarding his personal journey with self-care, therapy and medication.
As a keynote speaker, he “dives right in, helping people and communities in their daily struggles and to guide them toward real solutions for the challenges that come their way.”
Also, Yalden takes research, statistics and clinical information and communicates it to non-clinical professionals in a practical, engaging and user-friendly manner.
“If we focus on the early prevention and intervention of mental health problems in the lives of our teenagers, we’ll be laying a solid foundation for greater health outcomes in life and investing in the future of our society,” he said.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Jeff Yalden to Clearfield and Jefferson counties and experience his contagious enthusiasm for helping others,” said Laina Jackson, president of Clearfield Jefferson Suicide Prevention Team.
“He will really set the tone for an inspiring, forward-looking school year that will leave us all with new energy and ideas for our important work with suicide prevention.”
The Clearfield Jefferson Suicide Prevention team will present three opportunities for communities to hear Yalden’s message.
Yalden will speak at DuBois Area High School on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m., Brookville High School on Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m. and Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m.
In addition to the community events, Yalden will also present assemblies for students respectively on each day, plus at Curwensville Area High School on Sept. 12.
Clearfield Jefferson Suicide Prevention Team Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the occurrence of suicide in the two-county area.
For more information or to make a donation, please visit 1istoomany.org or follow Clearfield Jefferson Suicide Prevention Team on Facebook. For more information on Yalden, please visit thejyf.org.
