As stated on our home page, Project 99’s mission is to educate teens and the community about the negative consequences of suicide, and to show students how one choice can devastate an entire community. In other words, our focus is on promoting awareness and providing resources on suicide prevention and mental health support. Our organization DOES NOT provide direct counseling referrals for individuals in crisis–that is not our purpose. However, we do provide training and resources to help community members find the resources they need to get support when they or someone they know is in crisis. That is our mission. How do we accomplish this? We do it through a variety of avenues, including special trainings that we offer to students and community members, community outreach programs, and ongoing communication and information sharing.
A great example of one of our training programs is the QPR (Question-Persuade-Refer) Gatekeeper Training that we offer free to community members. This training helps equip anyone who is interested in participating with tools and resources to learn how to identify the warning signs of a potential suicide crisis and what the best ways to respond are when they see these signs. Our next session is Monday, December 14. at 5pm via Zoom. Access the flier HERE for details and registration information.
Our upcoming Virtual Lights for Life 5K is perhaps our best example of a community outreach event geared toward spreading awareness about suicide prevention and mental health. This year’s virtual format provides participants the opportunity for further impact by sharing their experiences with the 5K on social media while also placing the rocks along their route, which we include in their race bags and are painted by students with inspirational messages of hope and encouragement.
We hope you will join Project 99 in helping us fulfill our mission. Whether by participating in one of our training sessions or events, or simply by sharing our message and helping spread awareness so that all know that they are not alone, that they matter–to help us light the darkness.
