The Personal Side of Suicide

About 1,100 backpacks covered the lawn in front of the William Pitt Union on April 4, representing the estimated 1,100 college students nationwide who did by suicide each year. To give a face to those lives lost, personal stories of people who attempted suicide as well as stories written by families and friends accompany many of the backpacks. The event, Send Silence Packing, was part of a nationwide college campus tour by Active Minds Inc., a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that seeks to help campuses create comfortable environments for open conversations about mental health issues. The display was sponsored by the Pitt chapter of Active Minds and Pitt's Give Depression a Voice: Talk About It team.