NAMI HelpLine

August 26, 2022

Suicide Prevention Series

A Webinar Series Focused on Suicide Prevention Efforts, Sharing Lived Experience and Inspiring Future Activism

NAMI Ask the Expert — Suicide Prevention
Session 3: Creative Approaches to Suicide Prevention

Thursday, September 22, 2022, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET

Join NAMI Ask the Expert as we welcome three individuals interviewed for the NAMI book who share their experiences in creative suicide prevention work, including prevention programs and initiatives in the dramatic arts, baking and food service, and the creation of an advocacy superhero.

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Our Experts

 

Janet Berkowitz HeadshotJanet Berkowitz
Janet Berkowitz is a multi-faceted educator, performer and artist who has shared her talents for over 40 years, following her passion for psychology and the arts. Having had lived experience with suicidal ideation, she specializes in suicide prevention using creative arts and interactive exercises. She serves on the NJ Adult Suicide Prevention Committee and the Stakeholders 988 Committee. Janet has completed the Consumer Connections C.O.R.E. training for peers and is a certified WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) facilitator. She teaches it in the form of scrapbooking, calling it WRAPscrap. She teaches Trauma Informed Care, Anger Management and Mental Health Care tools throughout New Jersey. She is a member of MHA’s Mental Health Players who sponsor a play she has written, produced and stars in on suicide awareness and bullying called ‘The Wizard of Iz’.

 

Sascha Biesi HeadshotSascha Biesi
Sascha Biesi is co-founder and executive chef of Skull & Cakebones, the Texas Hill Country’s only vegan craft bakery and market. As proud as she is of her work as a baker over the last decade, Sascha is most proud of her mental health activism. Raising awareness of mental health concerns by sharing her own story and through her work with NAMI and the Depressed Cake Shop are her true passions. Like Dean Koonz said, “Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake.”

 

Nicholas Emeigh HeadshotNicholas Emeigh
Nicholas Emeigh, also known as “NAMI-Man” is a mental health advocate and public speaker with five years of continuous recovery from mental illness and substance use, and he is a survivor of three suicide attempts. He proudly serves the community as Director of Outreach and Development for NAMI Bucks County PA providing help, hope, awareness and opportunities to Bucks County’s 640,000 residents. He speaks often at conferences, schools and institutions of medicine and higher learning on the power of peer support, his own journey and what he is doing now to help shatter the stigma so that no one feels alone on their journey to recovery.

 

NAMI Ask the Expert: Suicide Prevention Series

Ask the Expert Suicide Prevention Series Session 1

Session 1: The AFSP & The JED Foundation — Thursday, September 8, 2022
This first webinar of the series will feature colleagues from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The JED Foundation to provide updates on their work in suicide prevention, including information on the AFSP’s Project 2025.

Learn More

Ask the Expert Suicide Prevention Series Session 2

Session 2: Making Meaning of Loss – Stories from Lived Experience — Thursday, September 15, 2022
Join NAMI Ask the Expert as Dr. Ken Duckworth welcomes four individuals who shared their stories of surviving suicide loss in the Chapter: Making Meaning of Loss by Suicide from the upcoming book, You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health.

Learn More

Ask the Expert Suicide Prevention Series Session 3

Session 3: Creative Approaches to Suicide Prevention — Thursday, September 22, 2022
Join NAMI Ask the Expert as we welcome 3 individuals interviewed for the NAMI book who share their experiences in creative suicide prevention work, including prevention programs and initiatives in the dramatic arts, baking and food service, and the creation of an advocacy superhero.

Learn More

NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).