Cornell Students Join the Fight Against Suicide

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Some 350 participants trekked a collective total of 361 miles in the rain and raised $20,545.34 on April 14 in the second annual Out of the Darkness Walk for suicide prevention on the Cornell University campus. The organizers surpassed their $20,000 goal and nearly doubled the $11,692.32 collected during the first-ever Cornell walk in 2023.

Cornellians walking to prevent suicide

Donning Big Red caps and brimming with smiles under skies that alternated between sunny and rainy, packs of students including Cornell athletes and fraternity brothers traveled the two-mile route from Barton Hall to Feeney Way, along Tower Road, and then Campus Road back to the starting point.

“You are making a difference,” said walk organizer Cheyanne Scholl, addressing the participants inside Barton Hall. “By showing up today, you are sending the message that mental health is as real as physical health. You are sending the message that reaching out for help is the strong thing to do. You are showing others that the issue of suicide cannot and will not be kept in the darkness. And thanks to you, we remain hopeful.”

Among the participants in this year’s Cornell walk were 18 fundraising teams, with Claire’s Colony bringing in the most funds, $5,001.52. Other top teams included Cornell HR, The Statler Hotel, Cornell Athletics, and Taylor Strong. Jennie Toal was the top individual fundraiser, followed by Jessica Cunningham, Scott Lyerla, Michelle Artibee, and Christine Lovely.

Bringing HOPE!

Wegmans, United Parcel Service in Collegetown, Big Red Barbershop, and NY FarmNet sponsored the walk, and many local businesses donated food and raffle items. Resource information tables were staffed by several providers, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness—Finger Lakes; Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; and Cornell Health Counseling and Psychological Services.

Almost 600 Out of the Darkness walks are held across the United States each year by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to raise awareness, collect research funds, and send a message that “suicide is preventable and no one is alone.” In 2023, Overnight, Community, and Campus walks raised more than $27.8 million.

In her remarks, Scholl, who led an organizing team consisting of students, staff, faculty, and members of the AFSP Greater Central New York chapter, spoke of experiencing tremendous grief after a close high school friend took their own life just five months after graduation.

Walk organizer Cheyanne Scholl

“I fell apart for months after Jack’s death. I was functioning on the outside, but hollow on the inside,” she said. Then Jack’s mother invited Scholl to take part in an Out of the Darkness Walk, which inspired her to organize a walk at her own university. She spearheaded the first walk at Cornell after moving to Ithaca in 2023.

“This event changed my life,” Scholl explained. “I had never been in a space where mental health was spoken about so openly. Where it was allowed and encouraged to talk about loss and grief. Having mental health coalitions, groups, and other resources in one place where I could approach them and be honest with myself about how much I needed them was huge.”

Click here to volunteer with AFSP or Click here to donate to AFSP

Another speaker was Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service (SPCS), which is a 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline call center and also provides training and community education.

Bloss said she experienced suicide as a small child when a 13-year-old cousin took their own life. She would then confront the issue even more directly as her young son experienced mental health crises.

“My son is who fueled me to get involved with this mission on a bigger scale. As a mom, I wanted to know more, I wanted to educate others, I wanted people to talk about suicide,” she said.

Upon joining SPCS in 2022, Bloss expanded the 55-year-old organization’s reach by operating 24/7 and covering 17 counties in Upstate New York. The volume of calls, texts, and chats increased from 6,339 in 2022 to 16,793 connections in 2023 to already 8,742 through mid-April this year.

“We are here, day or night. Call. Text. Website chat. Individuals can even email our helpline. We are here,” Bloss said.

Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

According to Bloss, SPCS crisis line counselors go through more than 280 hours of training before they independently take calls.

“This is incredibly important work, and we want to ensure that they have the tools needed to engage in these really tough conversations. Individuals who reach out are in a really vulnerable space in their lives. Individuals identify crisis in their own way, and we allow for that. We listen to their story. Their experience. We support their emotions, and we talk them through options by validating what they have been though and working on a plan to stay safe,” she said.

Bloss said that SPCS offers free opportunities for the public to learn about crisis intervention, ranging from a 45-minute virtual experience to a full two-day workshop. In 2023, SPCS conducted trainings with 228 individuals to help the community become suicide-safer.

Sonia Rucker, associate vice president for Cornell’s Department of Inclusion and Belonging and a Presidential Advisor for Diversity and Equity, shared how she was shaken last year by the shock suicide death of a close friend of 20 years.

Though trained as a social worker and having worked on teams dealing with college students in crisis, Rucker said she could not believe that her friend would take her own life. “Not only did I think that things like that only happened to other people, I had another huge blind spot,” she explained.

Over the years, she and her friend often championed how black women have survived the worst aspects of their history by being strong. Rucker said that her friend’s death made her realize the importance of allowing vulnerability and reaching out for help.

Sonia Rucker, associate vice president for Cornell’s Department of Inclusion and Belonging

“We believed that being strong was more important than anything else. We could take more than anyone else. More criticism, more disappointment, more pain, more racism, more sexism. No one could break us. We spent so much time talking about how strong we were, we avoided talking about when we were hurt. We were so good at being strong we forgot to be vulnerable. We forgot to be human,” she said.

“Sometimes we needed to reach out to each other and say, ‘I can’t do this alone. I need help. I need your support. I feel broken, I don’t feel like I can do this anymore, and I can’t continue to hide it.’ Through the loss of my special friend, I discovered that I needed to redefine what it meant to be strong. I discovered my real strength is knowing when to ask for help,” Rucker said.

Cornellians left messages on the “Why We Walk” wall:

For Yiannis

Speak up you will be listened to

To honor lives lived & lost to honor those who mourn

All veterinary professionals—students, assistants, doctors, faculty, techs, animal lovers

You are loved

To my friend!

I am walking for my Dad

For my Uncle Tim

Your life matters

Be Kind

I am walking for Jason Parente

You are never alone

Walking for “You”

Because it does get better!

You matter

I’m walking for anyone who feels alone

Dear Sweet Sister Linda, You’ll always be in my heart, and I’ll always be your kid sista!

Before the walk, an opening ceremony to honor those lost to suicide and their survivors

Walkin’ in the Rain

The Long and Winding Road

Cornell men’s soccer team

Alpha Gamma Rho members

National Alliance on Mental Illness—Finger Lakes

Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

Cheyanne Scholl, Touchdown the Big Red Bear, and AFSP Area Director Karen Heisig

Be Kind Ithaca & Free Hugs Ithaca

Heartfelt messages of support

Thank you, mental health workforce!

Cornell University in the light

If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.

How PROS Helped Me

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I’ve struggled with serious mental health issues for at least half my life. From age 19 to 22, I was hospitalized on seven different occasions. Thankfully, it has now been eight years since my last time. Others are not as fortunate, perpetually caught in the system, returning to institutionalized care on a regular basis.

The PROS team at Tompkins County Whole Health

How did I escape this cycle? Through the resolve, discipline and strength to cultivate healthy habits, take medication, push the boundaries in therapy, and secure the assistance of friends and family.

Yet despite these steps, I recently came upon a roadblock, nebulous as it was frustrating. I fruitlessly spent time and energy, self-analyzing, to discover that next rung. Though I didn’t recognize it at the time, I was trying to think things away. In retrospect, I was focusing inward too much, whereas this phase of my recovery required an outward focus. My angst was a product of a small social circle. I judged others too much, alone, unaware of the humility I needed to progress, subconsciously believing the fallacy that I was the only one. I hadn’t respected the power of group psychological interventions.  

The Personal Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) group therapy program is operated by Tompkins County Whole Health. It describes itself as a comprehensive program for adults with severe and persistent mental illness. It was first suggested to me by my psychiatrist. At the time, despite devotion to medication and therapy, I was just clinging to sanity, triggered 10 times per day, no way to live. Despondent, I handed the reins to my doctor, a major act of trust, letting him prescribe the proper amount of medication. Save in the case of court order, emergency, or inpatient settings, doctors rarely mandate a given dosage. A few months later, I felt ready to enroll in PROS. I was skeptical, as my past experience with group therapy was okay, if impersonal, but not groundbreaking. PROS would set the new standard. 

I first was interviewed one-on-one by the director, Heather, to evaluate my stability. She proved to be an energetic, sharp, and devoted figure. I did my best to pour my heart out. On the walk home that day, I vividly recall feeling centered, which I’d been alien to for so many years. Next was PROS orientation with Amy. Despite experiencing terrible stress in the waiting area, I persisted. About five of us gathered in a cozy room, were given packets, and tuned in as Amy softly described the program.

The schedule detailed a plethora of unique classes, each 45 minutes in length, operating from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days a week. Amy explained that each class offers 15 weeks of new material, after which the semester ends, and the next 15-week schedule begins.

After orientation, I felt comfort, release, acceptance. There were subliminal but powerful themes of empathy, self-determination, and above all, hope. It was enough to invite me back. I had two months to try out PROS classes before officially deciding to stay in the program or not.

The next morning, I walked to PROS. Those first several weeks proved strenuous. My anxiety was astronomically high. For all intents and purposes, I felt like I was venturing into the lion’s den. My persistence was fed by the spirit of the interview and orientation, holding fast despite my insecurities, swiftly extending trust to a system such as I hadn’t for many years, being treated like a human.

To my delight, the groups offered the same sense of care I had felt in the interview and orientation. Group leaders, decidedly humanist, were gentle friends rather than rigorous teachers. In groups, participants are invited to voice their struggles not by demand, or even request, but by their own comfort. Declining to do so is perfectly fine. Demands are few and far between. Similarly, simply being in a group is 80 percent of the work. If you can’t be there physically, you can tune in via Zoom.

The session begins when a facilitator introduces a topic, such as general life philosophy, reframing situations through Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), or eating and weight. Most groups are structured, in which members can raise their hands at any time to comment or question, cathartically or more formally. On the other hand, some groups are very casual, such as the one preparing the day’s lunch, while others are highly organized, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). The sessions can involve a continuous conversation, or allow mostly quiet time for people to finish a prompt. Most form their own organic course. The range of topics, styles, and facilitators ensures that very little subject matter becomes stale.  

For the first few months, I committed to one group three days per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I would then eat free lunch with clients and various staff members. Lunch is eaten in The Pyramid Room, an open, highly fenestrated, chill atmosphere with different lounging options, a long table, a kitchen, and plenty of space to house over 50 people. The food is high quality, including plant-based options. Most is donated by local, acclaimed restaurants. Participants are furthermore invited to take food home. Outside of lunch proper, scones, French pastries, bagels, and strong coffee are available on demand. You eat as much as you like, just as you socialize according to your preference. The $60 per month fee that I pay to participate in the PROS program would be an exceptional value if it only covered the lunches but I am receiving much more than that.

My horizons expanded. Something began to make sense. Slowly, it dawned upon me that this is the hard work, where the magic happens, and that I was finally progressing again. This is reinforced, every day, with the spiritual ethic that true recovery is in the daily grind. It took some weeks for me to calm down, but I did, forming bonds reminiscent of what life was like before being sick.

My hypervigilance and anxiety were finally granted slack, replacing paranoia with openness. This facilitated connection with and value of others. Soon, once a staunch anti-conformist, I began to learn how to truly care for others. I gave more. I was developing healthy and fulfilling relationships. Even if I am not close to someone, I still greet them, make small talk, and practice listening. Informal interactions on all levels matter! I was once deathly afraid of socializing. Now, I value it deeply, a pleasure long forgotten, recovering what I thought was gone. I believe: hopeful, grateful, and importantly, humble. No more danger.

I don’t know how PROS works as well as it does, but does that really matter? Maybe it richly simulates for those with mental illness what healthy people tend to take for granted. It’s another fair chance at life. For those who’ve regularly participated in the PROS program for some time, the benefits are obvious. It hurts to see many non-PROS people in the building visibly downcast and defeated, afraid of life. I used to be that person. Now, I hold my head high, but not too high. The program is empathetic, intimate, and liberal at root. It’s most of the time a very safe space, such that stigma in society fails to afford us.

As I experience it, PROS is a program for those dealing with a serious mental illness who want to pursue recovery. It is worth it. The worst has already happened.  

—By Ben Komor

Ben Komor is a certified peer specialist and has served as an advisor to the Tompkins County Crisis Negotiation Team. He is a graduate of Ithaca High School, and holds a BA in Human Development and an MS in Health.

For more information about PROS, click here to go to the PROS website, or call PROS at (607) 274 6200.

At Cornell University on April 14, Join the Walk to Prevent Suicide

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Mental health is a big challenge for universities, but not one that many people want to talk about. At Cornell University, there are voices trying to make a difference.

In 2023, individual volunteers from the campus community came together to start conversations about mental illness and suicide prevention and promote local mental health resources. Working with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Greater Central New York chapter, we formed a committee to organize an AFSP Out of the Darkness Walk on the Cornell campus last spring to raise awareness about suicide and fight the stigma that keeps many from seeking help.

Cornellians at the 2023 Out of the Darkness Walk

Our committee is proud to announce that the second annual Out of the Darkness Walk at Cornell will be held on Sunday April 14 starting at 11 a.m. in Barton Hall.

The Walk will follow an accessible two-mile route circling through the center of the beautiful Cornell campus. It is for people of all fitness levels and abilities. Participants may also walk on Barton Hall’s indoor track. The event wraps up around 1 p.m.

More than 500 AFSP Out of the Darkness walks are held across the country each year. They send a message that “suicide is preventable, and no one is alone” and raise funds for research, mental health programming, and support for survivors of suicide loss. The nearly 200 people participating in last year’s Cornell Walk raised $11,692.32.

Interested? Click here to create a fundraising team, become a sponsor or Walk volunteer, help publicize the Walk, register for the Walk in advance, or make a donation to the drive.

Established in 1987, AFSP is a nonprofit organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education, and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death. The fundraising goes toward lifesaving care, resources, and programming in the mission to reduce suicide rates and advance improved mental health.

2023 walkers on the Cornell campus

For me, as for many other volunteers, Out of the Darkness walks are deeply personal. Just as I was starting college in 2017, I was introduced to AFSP in a traumatic period after my longtime friend Jack Noonan took his own life.

Jack was one of the first friends I made when I moved to a new school in seventh grade. He saw me sitting alone on the bus on the way to a trip for honor choir and chose to sit with me and introduce me to his friends who went on to become my friends as well. I was a very socially anxious kid, and he helped me find a place to belong.

Jack took his own life two months into starting college. As a college freshman you are just learning how to be independent. You are in a new place, learning a new lifestyle, and that is very difficult. It is hard to reach out for help when you do not know where to find it.

I signed up for my first Out of the Darkness Walk in early 2018 after Jack’s mom invited me to join her. It was a life changing experience for me. It was the first time I was in a space where we were encouraged to speak about mental health problems and surviving suicide loss. I felt heard, seen.

After participating in that Walk, I began volunteering with AFSP to try to make a difference. I started an Out of the Darkness Walk at Central College, my small undergraduate school in Pella, Iowa, the following spring.

When I moved from Iowa to Ithaca and accepted a job at Cornell in 2022, I began exploring the possibility of organizing a campus Out of the Darkness Walk here. I was partly motivated by the school’s well-publicized history with student suicide deaths.

I remember reading the Cornell Wikipedia page and seeing an entire section dedicated to students lost to suicide. It is a deeply sad statistic and I became determined to make a difference here.

I have been gratified by the outpouring of involvement I discovered. We quickly formed a committee consisting of passionate Cornell undergrads, graduate students, staff members, and faculty members.

It is a team dedicated to spreading information about mental health and safe spaces to speak about mental health, and improving conversations and ending stigma on the Cornell campus. We organize AFSP fundraising events including the Walk, host tabling sessions to showcase available resources, and serve on several campus committees focused on mental health concerns.

Of course, my goal for the 2024 Cornell Walk is to make it bigger and better to reach a wider audience across campus. The more Cornell community members participate in the Walk, listen to the speakers, and learn about the resources available, the more lives that can be helped—and saved.

Barton Hall is Event Central, with registration at 11 a.m.; a kickoff ceremony; a resource fair featuring local and campus health providers; yard games; AFSP merch; a raffle for donated items from local and campus businesses; a memorial and positivity sticky note wall; snacks including cotton candy, popcorn, and root beer floats; and a selfie station with Cornell’s own mascot, Touchdown the Big Red Bear.

Speaking at the event: Cornell’s Sonia Rucker, associate vice president for the Department of Inclusion and Belonging and a Presidential Advisor for Diversity and Equity; and Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County.

Sponsors of this year’s Cornell Walk include the Cornell Work/Life Team, Cornell Dairy Bar, Wegmans, NY FarmNet, and UPS in Collegetown.

Allow me another word: You do not have to be personally impacted by mental health or suicide to attend this event. Chances are, you or someone you know has struggled with mental health challenges. I hope you will participate because you care about mental health and suicide prevention. Believe me, the mood of this event is hopeful!

—By Cheyanne Scholl

Cheyanne Scholl is the founder of the Cornell University Out of the Darkness Walk and chair for the 2024 Walk.

If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.

Fundraising to Support Our Mental Health Workers

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The Sophie Fund’s 2023 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign collected $1,043.78 for the Greg Eells Memorial Fund at Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca.

Kayla Torres, Alecia Sundsmo, Max Fante, Lovisa Johanson, Alicia Kenaley, and Michelle Eells

The campaign was spearheaded by several Cornell University student organizations: Cornell Circle K; Pre-Professional Association Towards Careers in Health (PATCH); and Alpha Phi Omega Gamma Chapter (APO). The monies raised in the campaign included donations made directly to Family & Children’s.

At a luncheon at the Statler Hotel on February 2, Max Fante and Kayla Torres of Cornell Circle K delivered a check to leaders from Family & Children’s. The campaign collected donations targeted for the Greg Eells Memorial Fund, which provides wellness support and continuing education opportunities for the organization’s own staff members.

To make a donation to the Greg Eells Memorial Fund, click here and use the drop-down menu to designate your gift.

The Memorial Fund was created to honor Eells, the longtime executive director of Counseling & Psychological Services at Cornell University, board member at Family & Children’s, and national leader in the student mental health field, who died by suicide in 2019.

“It was wonderful to see the outpouring of support for the Greg Eells Memorial Fund, highlighting the importance of mental health care and caring for our caregivers,” said Lovisa Johanson, donor engagement manager at Family & Children’s.

“This fund to support mental health workers is crucial, and Cornell students played a vital role in driving these efforts forward with their passion and dedication. Grateful for the chance to work together to spotlight our exceptional staff and provide them with wellness support funding,” Johanson said.

Fante said that supporting the annual Cupcake Button campaign is one of Cornell Circle K’s service priorities during the school year.

“Cornell students have an unwavering commitment to foster mental health awareness in the greater Ithaca community. Supporting the Greg Eells Memorial Fund along with championing mental health care workers is the perfect way to empower students to prioritize mental health in our community,” he said.

Orell Rayhan of PATCH said that working with The Sophie Fund and the Greg Eells Memorial Fund provided an opportunity for her members to destigmatize mental health, which may impact them or their patients in the future.

“By sharing the impactful stories and missions of these incredible organizations, we empowered our members to forge deeper connections with the causes they support,” she said.

Family & Children’s is a private, nonprofit community agency dedicated to supporting, promoting, and strengthening the well-being of individuals and families by providing high-quality, accessible mental health care and related social services, with a particular sensitivity toward the needs of children.

In 2022, the agency provided 1,289 clients with counseling services in nearly 30,000 appointments. More than 1,000 other clients were served in other programs such as psychiatry, geriatric mental health, and community outreach.

The Greg Eells Memorial Fund was inspired by Eells’s widow, Michelle Eells, who seeks to provide greater support for clinicians and others who spend long hours treating clients with mental health issues including many who are struggling.

Eells’s family and friends also founded Health & Unity for Greg (HUG) “to continue Greg’s work in the world, inspired by Greg’s passion for people and overall wellness in mind, body, and spirit.” HUG focuses on uniting community through advocacy events that exercise physical and mental health to end the stigma for all.

The Sophie Fund organizes the Cupcake Button campaign and the related Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest each fall to promote mental health awareness and raise monies for local nonprofits supporting community mental health. Donors receive a Cupcake Button featuring the image of a cupcake created by Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell art student who died by suicide in 2016 for whom The Sophie Fund is named.

Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, expressed his appreciation to the Cornell student organizations for their support of mental health.

“We are very grateful to partner with student organizations at Cornell, who year after year demonstrate strong support to advance better mental health on their campus as well as in the larger Ithaca community,” said MacLeod.

“In 2023, we greatly appreciated the opportunity to raise funds for Family & Children’s, which plays a leading role in supporting mental health in Tompkins County. It was equally important to us to honor Greg Eells, who dedicated his life to the mental well-being of young people, and to show solidarity with the mental health and social work clinicians whose service is so vital to our community.”

MacLeod said that since 2017 the Cupcake Button campaigns have raised a total of $6,612.66 for seven local nonprofits supporting mental health: Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; the Village at Ithaca; The Learning Web; NAMI-Finger Lakes; and Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca.