Shawnee Grad Student Brings Suicide Awareness Walk to Pottawatomie County
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and this year, it didn't pass through Pottawatomie County unnoticed thanks to a Shawnee graduate student.
On Saturday, September 26, nearly 90 people gathered at KidSpace Park for Shawnee's Out of the Darkness Walk, the first for Pottawatomie County. The Out of the Darkness Walks are an effort of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to raise awareness and bring hope to those affected by suicide.
Behind Shawnee's walk was MacKenzie Steffens, a counseling graduate student at Oklahoma Baptist University and a board member with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Oklahoma Chapter. Both as a survivor of suicide loss and as someone studying the field, MacKenzie has the seen the need up close. Pottawatomie County's suicide rate is nearly twice the national average, in a state that already ranks among the highest in the country.
With support from the Avedis Foundation, Pogo, and a wide network of local sponsors and volunteers, nearly 100 participants from all walks of life gathered to remember or support a loved one impacted by suicide.
Pottawatomie County Commissioner Abby Thompson helped marshal the walk itself, leading participants through the first mile around KidSpace Park. Before that, the event included a remembrance ceremony, with attendees wearing beaded necklaces representing loved ones lost to suicide, and a bubble release meant to give people space to grieve together.
As MacKenzie put it during the ceremony, everyone walking that day was surrounded by people who understood what it means to hold love and loss at the same time.
This was the first Shawnee Out of the Darkness Walk, but organizers made clear it isn't meant to be the last. Five local community members have already begun training in AFSP's Talk Saves Lives program to deliver suicide prevention education directly in Pottawatomie County, with the goal of keeping this work going well beyond a single Saturday morning.
Sometimes the biggest community change starts with just one person deciding a gap is worth filling.
If you or someone you know needs support, call or text 988 for free help, 24/7.
