Commonwealth Health Employees Spearhead Suicide Prevention Effort
8/19/2015
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (Aug. 20, 2015) – Two employees of the Commonwealth Health Crisis Response and Recovery Center at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital are joining a nationwide effort to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention.
Sarah Rittenberg and Maggie Wilde, crisis clinicians, are organizing a team to raise funds and awareness through participation in the local Out of the Darkness Walk held in conjunction with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The walk is held annually at sites throughout the nation. The Greater Northeast Pennsylvania Walk is set for 2 p.m. Sept. 13 at Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre.
Rittenberg and Wilde are working with employees at the crisis center and Community Counseling Services, Wilkes-Barre, to organize a team of Commonwealth Health employees and encourage members of the community, including individuals who may have been helped by crisis counseling, to join them.
Rittenberg and Wilde say they each see an average of 20 to 25 patients per day with concerns ranging from suicide attempts, obsessing about suicide, depression and anxiety attacks. They also counsel people who have lost loved ones to suicide.
“We believe that there needs to be more awareness about this field,” Rittenberg, 25, said. “We also believe the public needs to know that there is always someone to talk to.”
The crisis center responds to calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Wilde said that the job is a difficult one when they can’t save a life or prevent a suicide attempt but rewarding when they do.
“It hurts us when we see our patients try to hurt themselves,” Wilde said. “But, on the other hand, it’s not unusual for someone to come in with some fresh-baked cookies to thank us for saving their life.”
Sarah Rittenberg, left, and Maggie Wilde, crisis clinicians at Commonwealth Health, hope to raise funds and awareness by organizing a team to participate in the Out of the Darkness Walk on Sept. 13 at Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre.
