The Onondaga County Suicide Prevention Coalition is encouraging the community to use sidewalk chalk to spread messages of hope and resilience to those suffering from mental health issues.
Schinade Smith, a senior in the Syracuse City School district is leaving a colorful message about self-love on a sidewalk next to the Everson Museum. She hopes anyone walking along and seeing positive messages can help, especially young people, who live in a world where social media can be damaging to mental health.
"High school is really hard," Smith said. "There's like a lot of people that are a lot of critical of everyone all the time, and everyone's like really judgy so I feel like that definitely contributes to it. Like, personally, when I was struggling with like mental health, it was like other people around me that were judging me for the way I am even though I like never did anything to them."
Mark Vinciquerra, coalition coordinator said a positive message can pull someone from the depths of despair.
"When you have those supports and resources that are encouraging you and loving and caring and nurturing, it helps you to look at challenges perhaps through a different lens," Vinciquerra said.
This Chalk the Walk endeavor is a nationwide program. Coalition supporters hope it encourages people to get help and learn more about suicide prevention services. Onondaga County has a suicide rate of over 10% per 100,000 people, above the state average.
