Groups Work Together To Raise Awareness About Suicide Prevention
Ad 2 Helps HOPES With Advertising Campaign
Updated: 8:22 am CDT April 23, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- Two local groups have teamed up with the goal of getting the message out about suicide prevention.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportIn Dane County in 2007, 54 people died from suicide. In the same year, suicide killed three times more people than homicide across the state.The group Helping Others Prevent and Educate about Suicide is working with Ad 2, a group of young advertising professionals in Madison, to make sure people hear about how they can help prevent suicides.It's a message that Eric Garland, who lost a son to suicide in 2006, said hopes people can learn from.When he got a phone call in 2006, Garland said he knew something was wrong."Our son had been missing for a couple of days. It was winter time; as a parent you have a gut feeling something is wrong," Garland said. "They found him in his car, parked in the woods, and he had shot himself."Brandon, Garland's only son, was an 18-year-old McFarland High School athlete suffering from depression."I believe my son's legacy is going to be that through his death he's saving many other lives," Garland said.Garland works with HOPES, and the group has teamed with Ad 2 to help raise awareness about suicide prevention.For months, Jessica Schluter, of Ad 2, headed a team of volunteer writers and designers, designing a new look and outreach campaign for HOPES."There's just all kinds of different pieces in here, none of which look like they're coming from the same organization," Schluter said.Now, a new logo ties the informational pieces together, and the group devised a new slogan: "Look closer, listen harder.""We can't say we just want to talk to high school kids, or we want to talk to seniors. We're really talking to everybody here," Schluter said.There are TV commercials and radio spots tied to a new Web site, WISC-TV reported."I expected them to do a few brochures for us and things like that. I didn't expect to see commercials on television, articles in the State Journal, billboards," Garland said. "The resources they were able to provide were something, as a local nonprofit, we don't have the ability to pay for."The effort helps Garland know his son won't be forgotten."The warning signs were all there for my son. We didn't recognize them as parents," Garland said.HOPES said if it paid for the advertising campaign, it would have cost several hundred thousand dollars.The radio ads can be heard on many Madison-area stations and the TV spots air on My Madison TV 14.People can learn more about the campaign and its message at www.lookcloserlistenharder.org.People can also turn to a 24-hour Help Line for mental health emergency and suicide prevention by calling 608-280-2600.People can learn more about HOPES at www.hopes-wi.org.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportIn Dane County in 2007, 54 people died from suicide. In the same year, suicide killed three times more people than homicide across the state.The group Helping Others Prevent and Educate about Suicide is working with Ad 2, a group of young advertising professionals in Madison, to make sure people hear about how they can help prevent suicides.It's a message that Eric Garland, who lost a son to suicide in 2006, said hopes people can learn from.When he got a phone call in 2006, Garland said he knew something was wrong."Our son had been missing for a couple of days. It was winter time; as a parent you have a gut feeling something is wrong," Garland said. "They found him in his car, parked in the woods, and he had shot himself."Brandon, Garland's only son, was an 18-year-old McFarland High School athlete suffering from depression."I believe my son's legacy is going to be that through his death he's saving many other lives," Garland said.Garland works with HOPES, and the group has teamed with Ad 2 to help raise awareness about suicide prevention.For months, Jessica Schluter, of Ad 2, headed a team of volunteer writers and designers, designing a new look and outreach campaign for HOPES."There's just all kinds of different pieces in here, none of which look like they're coming from the same organization," Schluter said.Now, a new logo ties the informational pieces together, and the group devised a new slogan: "Look closer, listen harder.""We can't say we just want to talk to high school kids, or we want to talk to seniors. We're really talking to everybody here," Schluter said.There are TV commercials and radio spots tied to a new Web site, WISC-TV reported."I expected them to do a few brochures for us and things like that. I didn't expect to see commercials on television, articles in the State Journal, billboards," Garland said. "The resources they were able to provide were something, as a local nonprofit, we don't have the ability to pay for."The effort helps Garland know his son won't be forgotten."The warning signs were all there for my son. We didn't recognize them as parents," Garland said.HOPES said if it paid for the advertising campaign, it would have cost several hundred thousand dollars.The radio ads can be heard on many Madison-area stations and the TV spots air on My Madison TV 14.People can learn more about the campaign and its message at www.lookcloserlistenharder.org.People can also turn to a 24-hour Help Line for mental health emergency and suicide prevention by calling 608-280-2600.People can learn more about HOPES at www.hopes-wi.org. Copyright 2009 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
