Each September, which is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, communities across the country come together to raise awareness, share resources around mental health, and remember those lost to suicide.
At a “Pizza 4 Prevention” event hosted by DVC Mental Health Funding on Sept. 21 in the Diablo Valley College Commons, therapists visiting from The Wright Institute, a psychology graduate school in Berkeley, spoke with DVC students about mental health resources and, specifically, ways to help address suicidal ideation when it occurs.
As one therapist at the event, Siobhan Moher, put it: “Mental health is a community issue.”
“We support each other in our relationships,” Moher said, and “by having this community response to suicide prevention, we’ll be able to reach more folks and support more folks.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48,824 people died by suicide in the United States in 2024. In that same year, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health also reported that 14.3 million adults had serious thoughts of suicide.
Suicide is increasingly seen as a public health crisis affecting families, schools, workplaces and communities everywhere. Part of the solution, said the therapists, involves people’s willingness to have “uncomfortable conversations” with those they care about—particularly in crisis moments.
“Having uncomfortable conversations is mandatory,” said a therapist by the name of Sandra. “It could be the last straw, and what is really needed for that person.”
Another therapist who spoke at the event, Tarika, emphasized the importance of community to give people the support they need, “so they don’t feel alone and isolated.”
“At DVC, we do offer our therapy sessions and a place for [students] to come and talk about how they’re feeling,” Tarika said, adding that people should “definitely check out the [Basic Needs and Wellness] counseling center.”
Sonia, also from The Wright Center, agreed that a strong community is at the core of our ability to help people when they need it most.
“That community is essential for life, period,” Sonia said. “That’s what holds us together, not just the moments of hardship or crisis, but just like also moments of flourishing and success.”
“We’re not individuals, we’re a collective, and the more that we can support each other in the collective, I think the better resourced we are and better quality of life.”
Sandra offered a powerful metaphor in the way we describe suicide.
“Imagine suicide as an enemy,” she said. “Who are you fighting? Reaching out to resources is getting an extra hand, an extra fighter on your side, so you’re not throwing fists alone.”
As Moher said, “Talk to your friends about this. Make it normal. Access resources.”
