Say the Words: A Symposium on Suicide Awareness, Prevention & Healing

The honest, in-person conversations about suicide we usually avoid, held in one room, in one day. Come exactly as you are.
About this Event

Say the Words: A Symposium on Suicide Awareness, Prevention & Healing

Each September, National Suicide Awareness Month passes with graphics and good intentions, and not much changes. Say the Words is built to actually change something: a full day where people with very different relationships to suicide sit in one room and talk honestly.

You'll be alongside suicide loss survivors, people who have navigated suicidal thoughts, friends and family supporting someone they love, and the clinicians and advocates who show up for this topic every day. The format moves from a keynote and moderated panels in the morning to self-selected breakout tracks in the afternoon, so you can find the conversation that fits where you are, whether you've lost someone, you're struggling, or you want to show up better for someone who is.

You'll leave with shared language, real resources, and practical steps you can use at home, at work, and in your community. Come exactly as you are. An imperfect conversation beats no conversation every time.

Huge thanks to The Charles E. Kubly Foundation for making this event possible. Our mission is to have community voices of all backgrounds present in the room. For ticket sponsorship, reach out to [email protected]

We also want to thank our event partners: NAMI Southeast WI, Center for Suicide Awareness, Community for Hope, Multicultural Trauma & Addiction Treatment Center of Wisconsin (MTATCW), Medical College of WI, The Craig Yabuki Mental Health Center and Rogers Behavioral Health.

Agenda

🕑: 08:30 AM - 09:00 AM
Arrival & Registration

Info: Check-in and confirm breakout tracks, gather materials, connect with resource tables and enjoy light refreshments.

🕑: 09:00 AM - 09:20 AM
Welcome & Framing
Host: Dr. Ricardo Anderson

Info: Introduction to the day, community agreements, and an orientation to suicide literacy as a shared framework for all programming.

🕑: 09:20 AM - 10:05 AM
Keynote Address with Charlotte Maya
Host: Charlotte Maya

Info: Charlotte Maya lost her husband Sam to suicide in 2007, when her children were 6 & 8 years old. In her memoir, Sushi Tuesdays: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Resilience (2023), Charlotte shares the days and years following Sam's death with honesty, vulnerability, and a sense of light. Sushi Tuesdays has become a resource for suicide loss survivors and clinicians nationwide. Over time Charlotte turned her experience into a framework for healing, community, and radical honesty about grief.

Charlotte will open the event with a keynote address, including time for live Q&A with event host Emily LoMenzo Washcovick. Copies of Sushi Tuesdays will be available for purchase on site, and Charlotte will sign books during the morning break.

🕑: 10:05 AM - 10:55 AM
Panel 1: Different Losses, Shared Ground
Host: Emily LoMenzo Washcovick

Info: A moderated panel featuring survivors of suicide loss speaking from distinct relational vantage points: sibling, spouse, parent, friend. The conversation explores grief, guilt, unanswerable questions, and what shifts when you are in the room with someone who truly understands.

🕑: 10:55 AM - 11:15 AM
Break, Book-signing with Charlotte Maya & Resource Fair
Host: NAMI Southeast WI

Info: Morning break offers our first opportunity to connect with speakers, resource tables & other attendees. The power of Say the Words is dialogue happening all throughout the day, and this break will offer a chance for attendee connection.

🕑: 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Panel 2: Warning Signs, Real Places (Suicide Prevention Panel)
Host: Barb Bigalke

Info: Most suicide prevention doesn't happen in a clinic. It happens at the bar, at the kitchen table, in the moment someone almost says something and doesn't. This panel is about closing that gap. Barb Bigalke, founder of Wisconsin's Center for Suicide Awareness, leads a conversation on what prevention looks like when it's practical, early, and human. She'll share what her team has learned by training the people most likely to notice first, including bartenders across the state through the Tavern League of Wisconsin, on how to hear a warning sign and what to do with it.

But warning signs aren't only data points. Alongside the research and the resources, panelists who have lived this, as survivors of loss and as people who have navigated suicidal thoughts themselves, will talk about what actually reached them, what they wish someone had said, and how an honest conversation becomes the intervention. You'll leave able to recognize signs, ask the direct question, and point to resources.

🕑: 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM
Lunch & Unstructured Attendee Dialogue

Info: Enjoy boxed lunch and an opportunity to connect with other attendees, speakers and resource tables. Lunch will be our transition time between the morning panels/full group programming and afternoon breakout sessions.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:15 PM
Breakouts Explained & Community Promises
Host: Emily LoMenzo Washcovick

Info: A chance to review afternoon breakout tracks and reset on our attendee commitments before heading into group dialogue.

🕑: 01:20 PM - 02:20 PM
Identity Breakout Sessions (Self-Select)

Info: Three facilitated breakout tracks running concurrently. Attendees choose their track at check-in.

🕑: 01:20 PM - 02:20 PM
Identity Breakout - Track A: "I Lost Someone"
Host: Tricia Monroe

Info: For people who have experienced suicide loss. Conversations focus on grief, identity, the questions that never get answered, and connecting with others who have experienced a similar loss.

🕑: 01:20 PM - 02:20 PM
Identity Breakout - Track B: "I'm Struggling"
Host: Dr. Maria Inosencia Amarante

Info: For people navigating suicidal ideation or depression who are in a place to share, or want to listen to other experiences. Focused on reducing isolation, building community, and connecting with clinical and peer resources.

🕑: 01:20 PM - 02:20 PM
Identity Breakout - Track C: Recognizing as a Supporter When You Need Support
Host: Dr. Ricardo Anderson

Info: Those who stand in the gap for others—whether as peer supporters, community advocates, youth mentors, or caring family members—spend their days holding space for deep pain, crisis, and emotional distress. But what happens when the supporter is the one who is struggling? Too often, those who offer hope and guidance feel an unspoken pressure to always stay strong, leading to isolation, physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, and hesitation to ask for help when their own mental wellbeing wanes.

This non-clinical, community-centered session opens a safe and honest conversation about
the human needs of the helper. Moving away from medicalized language and diagnostic
jargon, we will explore the real-world emotional toll that a supporter can experience. Participants will examine why asking for help can feel so difficult for caregivers, unpack the difference between self-care and true community care, and discuss practical ways to normalize vulnerability within our support networks.

🕑: 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Action Breakout Sessions (Self-Select)

Info: Three facilitated (action oriented) breakout tracks running concurrently. Attendees choose their track at check-in.

🕑: 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Action Breakout - Track A: QPR Training powered by Community for Hope
Host: Sarah Danahy, LCSW

Info: Become a certified QPR Gatekeeper through training with Community for Hope. QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) is a suicide prevention training to equip everyday people with life-saving intervention skills. This is designed for non-medical professionals.

🕑: 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Action Breakout - Track B: What To Do When Someone You Love Is In Crisis
Host: Barb Bigalke (Center for Suicide Awareness, HOPELINE)

Info: A group dialogue outlining local and national resources, best practices and personal stories of successes and failures.

🕑: 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Action Breakout - Track C: Neurodiversity, The Autism Spectrum & Suicide
Host: Troney Small

Info: This conversation will dive deeper into the correlation and causation between neurodiversity (and some diagnoses such as autism) and suicide. Expect to hear scientific findings as well as first hand experiences and understanding.

🕑: 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Collective Closing: What We Know Now (What To DO!)

Info: Short reflections from panelists and breakout facilitators, open audience exchange, and a close that sends attendees home with language, resources, and action steps to take personally & locally.

🕑: 04:30 PM - 05:15 PM
Resource Wrap Up & Continued Connection
Host: NAMI Southeast WI

Info: Continued engagement with local and national mental health organizations - opportunity to discuss next steps with new and old connections.