This article contains discussions of suicide.
Saturday, April 18, the College of William and Mary’s chapter of Alpha Tau Omega hosted its annual Out of the Darkness Walk for suicide prevention and awareness. The goal of the event was to raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. ATO organized the walk in collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness On Campus, Active Minds and the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center.
The event opened with remarks from multiple guests. Speakers included American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Virginia chapter founder Shirley Ramsey, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs and Public Safety Ginger Ambler ’88 Ph.D. ’06, Virginia Delegate Jessica Anderson, Cassidy Jones ’28 and event chairs Ryan Khalil ’27 and Matthew Park ’28. College President Katherine Rowe was also in attendance.
Ramsey began her speech by thanking participants for attending. She stressed the importance of destigmatizing mental illness.
“Some of you may be here because you may have lost a loved one to suicide. You may be here because you’ve had suicide ideation or even have had attempts or struggle with depression or anxiety,” she said. “It has been stigmatized for years and years and years.”
Ramsey shared her personal experience with loss in her family due to suicide. She emphasized the importance of events such as the Out of the Darkness Walk.
Ramsey explained that the AFSP raises money to address mental health-related public policy and research.
Khalil shared an update on the College’s AFSP fundraiser.
“We currently have over 90 registered attendees and, as Ms. Shirley said, have raised over $19,000 as a campus,” he said. “We’d love to get to our goal of $30,000 to support AFSP’s work in education, advocacy, research and programs for those impacted by suicide.”
Ambler said that she believes the Out of Darkness Walk represents the College community’s strength.
“What distinguishes our William and Mary community? It is the depth of true care and commitment to one another,” she said. “There is no better example than this walk.”
Jessica Anderson shared recent mental health policy accomplishments of the Virginia House of Delegates.
“I’m grateful to say that in this last session, we decriminalized suicide for the first time in Virginia,” she said. “And our governor signed that into law.”
Jones shared his experience struggling with his mental health and highlighted the importance of visibility. He recounted his experience with depression and loneliness, stating that his attempts to seek help seemed to fail.
“What I missed in my attempts to open up was visibility,” Jones said.
He shared that he ultimately called his parents and subsequently learned that they had struggled with similar mental health issues.
“I needed to talk to people who understood my struggles and that I would be able to understand theirs,” Jones said. “One of the chief issues in today’s mental health crisis is exactly this: visibility.”
Park explained the significance of honor beads, the beaded necklaces in various colors worn by many participants.
He read a description of what each color represented. Rowe poured a cup of colored sand into a vase as Park read each description.
Izzy Anderson ’25 found the beads meaningful.
“The beads in particular are a really easy way to signify things,” she said. “Imagine if people wore these beads all the time, you know, I think that things would be really, really different. The world, or the campus community, would be a more empathetic space.”
Izzy Anderson said that she joined the walk in honor of a close friend whom she lost.
“One of my good friends, Rose, died by suicide,” she said. “I’m here today in her honor. And also, I think I really need to encourage myself to talk about her more because that’s how these people that everyone here has lost really live on.”
Ellie Moser ’27 joined the walk as a part of NAMI On Campus. She explained that she also attended because of her experience working at an inpatient mental health facility.
“I do a lot with talking to different people who have attempted suicide, and it’s just something that’s very close to home for me,” she said. “I think it’s very important to show up for your community and really let people know that this is something that is very real and very much happening, and it may be someone that you know.”
