SpanUsa-
The Suicide Prevention Action Network
The Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN USA) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preventing suicide through public education and awareness, community action and federal, state and local grassroots advocacy. The organization was founded in 1996 by Gerald and Elsie Weyrauch of Marietta, Georgia, survivors of the suicide of their 34-year-old physician daughter, Terri. Their goal was to create a way for survivors of suicide - those who have lost someone to suicide - to transform their grief into positive action to prevent future tragedies.
The Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN USA) is the nation's only suicide prevention organization dedicated to leveraging grassroots support among suicide survivors (those who have lost a loved one to suicide and those who have attempted suicide) and others to advance public policies that help prevent suicide. The organization was created to raise awareness, build political will, and call for action with regard to creating, advancing, implementing and evaluating a national strategy to address suicide in our nation.
The two preceeding paragraphs are from the SPANUSA website and give a general overview as to what SPANUSA is about. SPAN marshals a great deal of resources towards the goal of making suicide less of a reality than it currently is. Among the specific things that they are focusing on right now are the increase in suicide by our military, the risk to seniors of suicide, and trying to achieve parity for those needing mental health treatment.
My involvement in SPAN is as the field liaison for the second congressional district. In this role my hope is to provide a resource in this community for suicide prevention. Part of this is through my involvement in the Blount County Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention, an interdisciplinary team that seeks to decrease suicide in Blount County. I will also be attempting to make public officials more aware of what they can do to attack this problem. Finally I hope to provide suicide prevention training to those it may be of use to.
In succeeding weeks I will be using this page to document the activities that I pursue as field liaison as well as the larger public issues that SPAN is trying to pursue.
Please visit the SPANUSA website. There is much to learn there. I look forward to any comments or questions you may have.