BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Staff Writer

Local churches are going the extra mile to help those affected by suicide.
Clarkston Community Church, 6300 Clarkston Road hosts a suicide prevention event, “Soul Shop: Ministering to Faith Communities Affected by Suicide,” on Saturday, March 14, from 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The day will also be sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Cost for the event is $25 per person.
“This suicide prevention training is unique in its approach in that it is specifically tailored for faith-based leaders,” said Anne Perry, AFSP Michigan area director. “Participants will learn how to identify and best help those in their communities who might be struggling. We also hope by educating our faith leaders, they in turn will be able to speak to their communities about stigma and basic understanding of this difficult subject.”
Soul Shop trains faith community leaders to offer support, hope and connection to those personally affected by suicide.
Kate Zywicki is the youth and family ministry pastor at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Clarkston. She said Soul Shop, while geared towards religious leaders, is open to anyone who feels they could benefit from the day’s agenda.
“This is a conversation we need to be having consistently,” Zywicki said. “We are primarily targeting this towards forward-thinking leaders – pastors, program directors, small group leaders – but we would never turn anybody away. If they are in this community and are willing to have this conversation, for all we know that could be the first step toward leadership within the community, being the voice for this particular subject.”
These days, it sometimes seems suicide awareness is brought up only after someone takes their own life. Perry said more events like Soul Shop should be prevalent across all communities.
“We absolutely need more prevention-based programming,” said Perry. “We offer many such programs free to communities with specific focuses for veterans, seniors, LGBTQ, parents, educators, and students. We are often called into communities following a loss and while we are happy to provide loss support, we would much rather be called in to deliver our prevention programs. The more people we can educate, the faster we will create a culture that is smart about mental health and one free from stigma.”
Perry also explained why she thinks suicide is happening more and more with the younger crowd in today’s society.
“I think we are hearing more about it because we have more knowledge about the complex nature of suicide,” she said. “This is an important step, as to fully know how to combat something, we must first understand and study it thoroughly. The more people we have talking about this, the better.”
The culture is ready to demand a much-needed change on how we view mental health and suicide, she said.
“As for younger people, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for those 15-34 years of age, both in Michigan and in the country. However, we also have more young people than ever before becoming involved with AFSP and suicide awareness in general. We have also seen many young artists, Demi Lovato and Billie Ellish, for example, coming forward with their stories, all of which works toward normalizing the conversations around mental health.”
Anyone on the fence about attending should know it will be a community where they will be welcomed, Zywicki said.
“It’s a safe space,” she said. “My hope and prayer would be if someone never came to one of our events, that if in that moment, I came to their mind, they would reach out and know that I could be a safe space. The whole point of the whole mission is to let people know they are not alone and that they can talk through that moment.”