Cosumnes River College is giving students and faculty the opportunity to honor loved ones lost to suicide with a memorial display in the library.
The “Stars in Our Skies” memorial wall was created in recognition of September being National Suicide Prevention Month and was put up on Oct. 10.
Music professor Kurt Erickson, who helped organize the memorial, said the intention behind this project is to start conversations on the subject of suicide that historically has been considered taboo.
For Erickson, this project is personal as he has lost his daughter Mia Erickson, a freshman at Napa Valley College, to suicide.
“Obviously, it upends your life that I’ll never be able to articulate,” Erickson said. “But I do want to help people, and want to try and make a difference so that they don’t find themselves on that path as well.”
Erickson said he has become deeply involved with suicide prevention, involving himself with CRC’s mental health counselors and volunteering in suicide prevention programs throughout Northern California.
“This part is actually not part of my job at all, but it’s something I feel passionate about,” he said. “You feel better when you’re helping other people.”
Jalil Byrd, a 19-year-old pre-nursing major who has lost people in his life to suicide said it is important to reach out.
“Not a lot of people know that this is something they can get help for,” Byrd said. “They need to know that they don’t have to struggle in silence and feel that it’s the only way they can finally gain control.”
CRC offers in-person and online mental health services for students in the Student Health and Wellness Center, the college center and on the CRC website in the support services category under student resources.
“We try to be in so many places just so students know our faces,” said Katherine Gaston, a campus mental health advocate. “We want students to know they are not alone in this and there is a place for them online and here on campus.”
The wall was open for students to see throughout the month of September and is still currently up.