Arkansas Tech University will host its 2023 Out of the Darkness suicide prevention walk on Saturday, April 15.
The event will begin with check-in at 9 a.m. in front of Doc Bryan Student Services Center, 1605 Coliseum Drive on the ATU campus in Russellville. The approximately two-mile walk will commence at 10 a.m.
Online registration is open at www.afsp.org/atu.
ATU first hosted an Out of the Darkness suicide prevention walk in 2014. It continued on an annual basis through 2019, paused for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in 2022. In all, the previous Out of the Darkness walks at ATU have raised $115,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).
Data from AFSP shows that suicide is one of the top three causes of death among Arkansans age 10-24, one of the top two causes of death among Arkansans age 25-34 and that Arkansas exceeds the national average for deaths by suicide per 100,000 residents. Only 10 states in the union experience more suicides per capita each year than Arkansas.
Contact Kristy Davis, ATU associate dean for student wellness and ATU Health and Wellness Center director, at (479) 968-0329 or hwc@atu.edu for more information about ATU’s Out of the Darkness suicide prevention walk.
