To lose a loved one to suicide is heartbreaking.
Just ask Sandy Galletti who lost her 40-year-old sister on Sept. 17, 2001 when Sharon Marks chose to take her own life.
People need to know they are not alone, there is help and support within their community, so to raise awareness the Crisis Centre of Northern BC is hosting the inaugural Prince George Soles Remembering Souls, a memorial walk, to be held on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. beginning at the bandshell in Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park.
Galletti's sister Sharon was a registered nurse, owned her own business providing home care support for vulnerable adults, did contract work in reserves in northern Manitoba and was a mother of two girls.
"She was quite a successful woman in terms of business and her own personal development," Galletti said.
Sharon struggled with mental health issues for years including bipolar depression.
"During her nursing training was the first time I became aware that she was experiencing any psychosis but at that time we didn't know what it was, it just didn't make sense," Galletti said.
Throughout the years, Sharon had been hospitalized on three occasions and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and paranoid schizophrenia and then finally with bipolar, which was quite difficult to treat, Galletti added.
"I had a sense that something was off with Sharon," Galletti said about the time just before Sharon's suicide. Sharon didn't answer her phone or call Galletti back when they'd usually spoken to each other several times a week.
"It was a Monday night, I remember quite clearly, when I learned that her body had been found," Galletti said. Sharon had driven to an out of the way spot outside of Winnipeg and, being a nurse, took the cocktail of drugs she knew would end her life. Sharon had documented the stages of her own demise as the last entry into her journal, Galletti said.
"Reading her journal was pretty heart-wrenching," she added.
Sharon was a writer and had journalled for many years.
When Galletti went to support Sharon's two daughters after Sharon's suicide she found several journals that demonstrated the extent of Sharon's mental health issues and Galletti said Sharon was quite delusional, believing that Jesus spoke to her directly and that she had special healing powers.
"She internalized a great deal and did not share with others," Galletti said.
"Sharon feared being hospitalized, she feared being stigmatized, she feared other people's reactions and that became very apparent to me when I read her writings."
Galletti said there is a history of mental health issues on both sides of her family that goes back generations and other members of her family have experienced recent struggles. Galletti knows the Soles Remembering Souls Walk is a very important community event.
"I know there is a lot less stigma attached to suicide now than when my sister died," Galletti said.
"But it's still out there for sure. My experience has been that there is a real discomfort around acknowledging suicide, talking about suicide and its prevention - it's getting better, which is fantastic - but the stigma is still out there."
Galletti's experience with Sharon's death determined her career path. She first worked with children in a treatment centre in Winnipeg and then moved on to psychology, working with people with dual diagnoses and currently Galletti works at the Prince George Foundry, which in partnership with community agencies, offers free and confidential services for youth and adults between the ages of 12 to 24 and their families. Galletti is the early intervention assertive case manager for youth at the Foundry, which is a Northern Health specialty service. Galletti has also taken the lead on a peer support group called Heartbeat for those affected by another's suicide and people can find out more about the group during the Soles Remembering Souls Walk.
Sandra Boulianne, the executive director for the Crisis Centre of Northern BC, heard about a memorial walk held down south that really resonated with her. She reached out to the organizing committee to ask if she might borrow the idea to hold a similar walk here in Prince George to raise awareness for suicide prevention and that's how the walk came to be.
"We wanted to create an event to acknowledge those lives lost to suicide," Boulianne said. "So often people who die by suicide are remembered because they died by suicide and that's all people think about because it's so tragic, so what we're really hoping to do is create space to acknowledge people for not just the way they died but how they lived."
For people who are registering for the event to walk in memory of a loved one, the Crisis Centre staff are asking them to upload a photo with the person's year of birth and death, and that will be on one side of a placard and on the other side will be a list of five things that person should be remembered for, she added.
"The placards will be placed throughout Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park so when people walk around the park they can look at the placards and be there for those who are grieving for their loved ones," Boulianne said. "Those in attendance will be showing our support, showing we care about suicide and its affect on our community."
It's also Orange Shirt Day, a day to honour Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada and to raise awareness of the impact residential schools had on Indigenous communities. During the memorial walk, Orange Shirt Day will also be acknowledged.
There will be live art and music presented during the event. There will be two pieces of art auctioned with proceeds going towards the Crisis Centre's suicide prevention efforts.
There will be information booths for organizations in the community like the Canadian Mental Health Association, The Foundry and the support group Heartbeat.
The event starts at 6 p.m. with opening remarks from Mayor Lyn Hall. There will be food available and everyone is welcome to participate. The walk through the park will begin at 6:30 and closing ceremonies will be at 7:30.
"It's important to know that we as a community are suicide prevention," Boulianne said. "It's not just something that we want to leave to the professionals. We want to acknowledge that as a community when we show that we care about this issue we are in fact showing that we are suicide prevention and as individuals I would say you are suicide prevention. It doesn't matter if you've been affected by someone's suicide personally, just come out and show your support. This issue matters and it affects us as a community."
If students want to come to remember their fellow students who have been lost to suicide, they are welcome to attend as well, Boulianne said.
"We don't want to sweep this issue under the rug," Boulianne said. "We want to acknowledge it and honour those people's lives even though they were cut short by suicide."
