LYNN — Lynn native Sabrina Hamilton worries about the silent stigma associated with suicide. So she’s taking steps to start the conversation.
“There have been so many losses to suicide lately in our community and I wish there was more that people understood, which is why I am choosing to do what I can to get the word out,” she said. “I want people to know that they are not alone.”
Two years ago, Hamilton, along with the rest of the Lynn community, lost Ashley Frawley to suicide. The Lynn English High School graduate was about to enter her first year of college when she decided to take her life.
Hamilton participated in her first “Out of the Darkness North Shore Walk” for suicide prevention in 2015, less than two weeks after Frawley’s death. Since then, she’s walked several more times, raising more than $2,500 along the way.
“I don’t think I would be as OK as I am with the situation if I didn’t do these walks,” she said. “Knowing that what I’m doing and how I’m raising this money for research to help somebody else have hope and realize they are not alone makes me feel like I am contributing something back in Ashley’s honor.”
The Sept. 23 walk was first organized by Jeannie Brown Dawson in 2010 in association with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dawson put together the event, held at Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, to honor a family member who took her own life.
“I choose to continue this North Shore walk as a community of healing and togetherness,” she said. “This is about memorial and supporting those we have lost, those struggling in secret, and those loved ones in our life that struggle every day.”
There aren’t many resources for suicide support services in Lynn, in part because of economic limitations, according to North Shore Community College professor Lori Azzara. Events like the walk and support groups can help families left behind deal with the hurt, she said.
“If a program saves one person then it is absolutely worth it because every suicidal person is different from the next,” she said. “When it comes to families left behind, part of the problem is they often carry a sense of guilt around with them.”
Anyone interested in participating in the walk can register starting at 8 a.m. the day of the event. Proceeds from the walk go toward creating support groups for suicide survivors and helping educate students on suicide prevention.
