“I care, I see you, you matter and your life matters,” Lauren Muller said, her voice echoing throughout the Drake Stadium at the Fourth Annual Suicide Awareness Walk, Sept. 14. This year, the National Alliance on Mental Illness on Campus, NAMI Iowa and the Student Counseling Center collaborated to organize the 2025 walk.
Every year in September, thousands across the nation take strides in respect of National Suicide Prevention Month. The walk aims to encourage conversations about mental health, raising awareness about suicide prevention.
Shylee Saladi, a senior studying Psychology and Multimedia Journalism, with aspirations of becoming a mental health therapist, is the executive director for the Suicide Awareness Walk. From the walk, she hopes people recognize the importance of taking care of their mental health, which she says takes priority over taking care of others.
“If you can’t take care of your mental health, you’re not strong enough to take care of anything else. Your mental health is the most important thing about your body,” Saladi said. “It’s not weak to show emotion and show feelings and to receive help.”
Muller was the first speaker at the event. She shared personal anecdotes of the loss of a close friend to suicide and asserted the importance of showing up for the suicide awareness and prevention cause.
“No matter what brought you here, your presence is powerful. Just by showing up, you are sending a message,” Muller said. “Talking about suicide doesn’t make it more likely; it makes it less likely. Because talking opens doors, talking saves lives. I’m honored to stand here before you to share my story.”
Other speakers included the president of NAMI on campus, sophomore Elaine Bugenhagen, clinical-mental health counseling master’s student Grace Smith, Ryan Crane of NAMI Iowa and other students who shared their own experiences with mental health.
Smith, a member of the Women’s Soccer Team, extended her thank yous in her speech to her team and one teammate in particular, alumna Emma Nagel, who lost her father to suicide and made a lasting impact on the team’s involvement and initiatives in suicide prevention. Sprinkled throughout the crowd were members of the team, walking alongside attendees in matching green shirts.
“Today, we walk for every person who has lost a loved one to suicide and those who have contemplated suicide themselves, no matter their sexual orientation, age, race, religion, socioeconomic status and more,” Smith said. “Everyone here cares for you and is walking with you and for you. Please check out all the organizations and options and people who are here to support you. No reason is too small to ask for help, and there should be no shame in admitting that you need it.”
Following her speech, Smith said in an interview that she really hopes students hear her speech and are inspired to advocate.
“I hope people will take steps to get involved, even on smaller levels, whether that’s small things like getting QPR [Question, Persuade and Refer] certified or bigger things like going to talk to legislators,” Smith said. “On a day-to-day, simple things to do are really just simple acts of kindness and telling people you appreciate them, you love them, you value them.”
Various organizations, including Your Life Iowa, Clive Behavioral Health, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, UCS Healthcare and Drake’s Access and Success Center, tabled at the event, offering their resources.
Eric Pruess of Your Life Iowa, a 24/7 support line for gambling, substance abuse, mental health and suicide in the state of Iowa, said their services can connect clients with a support client through system navigation.
“Often [providing mental health services is] like peeling back the onion a little bit. Here’s the presenting problems up here, but there’s all this stuff underneath,” Pruess said. “Our job is really to inspire hope for a better tomorrow, and then people can have happier, more productive lives.”
Student organizations like members of the Women’s Soccer Team, the Coalition of Black Students, La Fuerza Latina and Brocal Chords showed up to support prevention of an issue that the CDC reports is one of the leading causes of death and affects people of all ages.
First-year, Clarissa Haugen, among the students in attendance, said this issue is close to her heart since she has “a lot of people in my life that have had struggles with suicide, suicide attempts.”
“It’s important to bring awareness,” Haugen said. “Especially for people raised in families that feel like they can’t talk about it.”
Pruess similarly expressed how not everyone has the same resources and access to support systems, may it be friends, relatives, etc., to get them through rough patches.
“It’s so important if you see something, say something,” Pruess said. “Talking about suicide brings it out of the darkness and into the light, so let’s talk about it. We can help impact individuals who are in that space; they can reach out, whether it’s 988, Your Life Iowa, Grand Creek, or visiting the Student Counseling Center.”
