Suicide awareness walk provides ‘healing’ moments

Equipped with hot chocolate, headbands and plenty of ambition, walkers and runners arrived at Prentis Park Saturday morning for the ninth annual 5K, ready to bear the less-than-average temperatures.

Nikki’s Fund 5K Run/Walk, sponsored by the University of South Dakota and the Vermillion and Yankton communities, has raised more than $35,000 since the event started in 2006. Promoting awareness and raising funds to aid USD students in times of crisis, the run/walk is part of National Suicide Prevention Week activities.

Janine Harris started the event in memory of her daughter, Nicole Vallie Harris, who died from suicide June 15, 2005.

“I thought it would be a good event for college students, to bring awareness and let them know where they can get help and let them know that others care,” Harris said.

As part of the event, names of loved ones lost to suicide were read aloud and written on balloons that were released into the air once participants returned from the course.

To help the event move along, USD students from various organizations volunteered.

Juniors Traci Kulesa and Aaron Fleischer, both active in Lost & Found, were among many volunteers and supporters Saturday.

Fleischer said looking at the number of people who attend each year — usually between 100 and 150 — there is an obvious need for it as so many people have been affected.

“It mixes Vermillion’s community and USD’s community and that’s not something we get to see very often as students,” Kulesa said.

Lost and Found has assisted with the event yearly as it is one of their main suicide awareness events in Vermillion, along with having a band or something of the sort, and smaller things like placing motivational notes around campus and providing stress relievers during finals week.

“People put up fronts and it’s really easy to overlook certain situations. There are a lot of facades,” Fleischer said. “It’s a lot more prominent than most people think.”

In the community atmosphere, a subject like suicide is easy to overlook by people sometimes, Harris said, and Nikki’s Fund is a healing setting for those affected and is a “safe place.”

“No one’s judging you; you can come here and you’ll be welcomed with open arms and a complete understanding, so it also gives people who have lost loved ones to suicide a place, maybe, to do their remembrance to the ones they loved and lost,” Harris said.

Chris Vallie, Nikki’s brother, said he appreciated all the help from student organizations each year, because every year he gets healing from the event.

“Just really believe how important it is to have awareness about suicide and suicide prevention and the different outlets that people could reach to for help and support,” Vallie said. “It’s nice to get that made more public.”

Coordinator of Prevention Services Lauren Schuur said funds raised throughout the year go to the Student Counseling Center to aid students who are in crisis or are in need of assistance with medications they cannot afford on their own.

“It’s great to see where these funds are coming from and to know that the community’s definitely giving back and assisting with the stigma of mental health and helping us to provide better services to students,” Schuur said. “The stigma’s a hard barrier to get over, but we see a lot of clients so we know that it’s kind of broken down.”

The Student Counseling Center, Schuur said, sees on average, between 70 to 90 clients per week, at times reaching 120 clients. More than 1,500 students visited the center during the 2013-2014 school year.

While it may be something students think about, Fleischer said, it’s not something people generally talk about.

“Depression is not taboo, it’s not rare,” Kulesa said. “If you struggle with it, you’re definitely not alone and there’s definitely nothing wrong with you if you have suicidal thoughts or if you’re suffering with depression, because it’s all a normal struggle and it needs to be talked about.”

(Participants wait in the cold Staturday morning air Sept. 13  for the start of the Nikki Fund 5k Run/Walk. The event was part of National Suicide Prevention Week and raised money for the University of South Dakota Student Counseling Center. Mikkelle Carlson|The Volante)