Four Years and Millions of Lives Impacted by the N.S.P.A.M.P.
The National Suicide Prevention and Action Month Proclamation (N.S.P.A.M.P.) may be a simple piece of paper, but if you ask Bev Schwartz, Development Coordinator at Hope for the Day, it can make all the difference in the world.
“Albeit it's just a tree, it's a piece of paper, but I find it to be one of the most important steps that a local government entity, whether it be a county or city, village [can take],” Schwartz said.
The N.S.P.A.M.P. is a way for municipalities to take an actionable step to starting the conversation about mental health in their community. It is a way to show constituents that they care about proactive suicide prevention.
With this in mind, the proclamation states three things:
Acknowledge suicide is an issue.
Raise the visibility of available suicide prevention resources.
Encourage others to be available to those around them by learning how to discuss suicide without increasing the risk of harm.
Through these three acknowledgements and actions, municipalities can do their part to smash the stigma surrounding mental health.
“We want to make sure that constituents know that there's places to turn to whether you're having a good day or a bad day,” Schwartz said. “We want to remind you that there's resources right down the street from you and so this proclamation gives the government in your community a chance to remind everyone where those resources are and shout them out.”
The proclamation also opens up the door to further conversations about mental health with the community and with Hope for the Day.
Hope for the Day encourages all who sign the N.S.P.A.M.P. to attend one of our signature The Things We Don’t Say education sessions. Those who sign the proclamation are also given the option to go a step above with one of the two levels — the Presidential and the Grassroots level.
These two levels offer differing degrees of involvement with Hope for the Day including tabling at an event in the area, hosting a The Things We Don’t Day education, and even creating co-branded resource cards.
“We're just trying to educate people,” Schwartz said. “Let's give them the tools in their toolboxes that they might not have or maybe they've forgotten how to use to just check in on their friends or family or their neighbors and just really have open and honest conversations about how they're feeling and what they're going through.”
August 24 marks the fourth anniversary of the proclamation. In those four years, 22 counties and 270 cities in 42 states have signed the N.S.P.A.M.P. That comes to a total of 35,265,198 people reached during that time.
Having already created an undeniable impact, Hope for the Day looks to only expand the N.S.P.A.M.P. from here.
If you are an elected official and want to sign up for the N.S.P.A.M.P., you can do so here. If you are a community member who would like to see their city sign the N.S.P.A.M.P., you can learn how to do that here.