May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the Soldotna Out of the Darkness Walk will be held Saturday, May 17 at the Soldotna Sports Center.
Pegge Erkeneff will speak before the walk begins.
Erkeneff: “My perspective is going to be what it means to be a survivor of suicide which I don’t like that word anyways it implies something really bad happened but it did, my son died when he was 16 by suicide very unexpectedly. So I’m going to be sharing a few minutes of my story and how you keep taking steps forward and heal when you have to face suicide.”
She said that the word suicide is shameful in our society which she wants to change.
Erkeneff: “I think part of it is starting to talk about it and to learn what some learning signs are, the other thing is that peopl.e don’t joke about suicide and so if you’re a young person and your friend is talking about it you have to tell an adult and if you’re a parent you have to take it seriously. That’s a really big step is that people don’t joke about taking their lives.”
In collaboration with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention the Soldotna walk has raised $820.00 so far according to the website.
Registration will begin at 9 am Saturday morning and the walk will start at 10am.