NAMI Minnesota

The days and weeks immediately following a suicide loss are very difficult for family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and community members. These people are often referred to as Survivors of Suicide Loss, and NAMI Minnesota (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is here to listen to and validate their grief and accompany them in healing in community.

Too often, Survivors of Suicide Loss feel alone after their loss; the extreme discomfort that most people have about suicide frequently prevents potential helpers from even offering support and prevents loss survivors from seeking help. NAMI Minnesota plays a crucial role in normalizing suicide loss grief and encouraging people to navigate grief journeys in healthier ways.

As demand for interventions and raising awareness increases, NAMI Minnesota needs donations to strengthen its suicide prevention and postvention efforts. With your donation, you are helping to:

1. Provide bereavement packets: In recent months alone, NAMI Minnesota has distributed over a hundred packets. Many Survivors of Suicide Loss have found the fact sheets they contain helpful, gently covering topics such as understanding suicide loss, how to talk with children about suicide loss, how to handle special occasions, and life insurance issues after a suicide loss.
2. Train Survivors to become voices for change: NAMI Minnesota trains Suicide Loss Survivors on how to develop their loss stories for healing and sharing safely with others to help prevent suicide in their communities.
3. Train media and communications professionals: "Safe Messaging around Mental Health and Suicide" is a one-hour online NAMI Minnesota class that reviews the scientific evidence around suicide contagion and the most up-to-date best practices for responsible journalism.
4. Equip professionals and community members with lifesaving skills: NAMI Minnesota empowers teachers, health professionals, and other vital actors and local leaders to recognize warning signs of suicide and apply best practices in suicide prevention, as well as to intervene and reduce the immediate risk of suicide.
5. Raise awareness through classes and outreach to the general public, parents, caregivers, and youth: NAMI Minnesota offers several free online and in-person suicide prevention classes to learn steps to help prevent suicide and reduce access to lethal means. Daily classes are posted at namimn.org, including workshops in schools, workplaces, faith communities, rural areas, and multicultural venues. NAMI Minnesota also has a remarkable presence in events all around Minnesota, from the State Fair in the Twin Cities to booths everywhere the organization and its affiliates are called to serve.
6. Make free lockboxes available to anyone in need: Prescription medications, sharp objects, firearms, and other potentially dangerous items can pose serious risks during a mental health crisis. Hence, one vital resource NAMI Minnesota offers is free lockboxes. By securely storing these items in a lock box and keeping the key separate, families can create a barrier to slow a crisis and allow time to seek help and support.
7. Promote 988: Whether you or somebody you know is facing mental health struggles, emotional distress, alcohol or drug use concerns, or just need someone to talk to, 988's caring counselors are here for you. Call or text 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741. Talk to trained counselors who care, 24/7/365.
8. Provide postvention expertise and support: NAMI Minnesota co-chairs the statewide postvention task force, and provides 1:1 consultations with families, professionals, funeral homes, and communities navigating suicide loss.

We are a community that cares, and we need to act now. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the 10-24 age group in Minnesota, only following accidents as a cause of death. Our veterans, people with disabilities, rural, and cultural communities are also being disproportionately affected.

Your contributions will make a difference. For example, $70 will help mail ten bereavement packets. Each workshop for eight Survivors of Suicide Loss learning to tell their story costs $1,500, and $150 to $250 will help offer an additional class for journalists, a farming community in Greater Minnesota, or a talk at a high school.

Securian Financial is making a matching gift of $1 for every $2 you give up to $5,000.