EDINBURG — Strength through somber times is what the 6th annual Out of the Darkness community walk stood for Saturday.
Held at the EdinburgMunicipalPark, about 500 participants gathered under the north pavilion for the walk around the park as a way of reflecting on those who have gone too soon due to mental health issues.
Mental health includes the state of emotional, psychological and social well-being. It is processed in how we think, act and feel. It also includes someone’s mood or behavior. Some factors may include biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry, or life experiences, such as abuse and family history of mental health problems.
Melissa Hinojosa-Zamora, founder of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Southern Texas Chapter, started the nonprofit organization locally in memory of her father, Miguel Hinojosa.
“My father died in 1980 when I was a child,” Hinojosa-Zamora said. “It took a long time for me to understand it, so I did research to find out more information about it.
“I kept it to myself and was afraid to talk to anyone about it, but one day I was talking to a friend of mine, Missy, and told her about my dad.”
As the conversation progressed, the friend told Hinojosa-Zamora that she, too, lost her brother to suicide. They continued sharing stories and learned they had similarities related to what had occurred, and through that sharing the Southern Texas chapter was established in the Rio GrandeValley.
“This walk is supposed to be a safe forum,” Hinojosa-Zamora said. “We need to break down the stigma about mental health, because suicide is preventable.”
Melissa “Missy” Garcia Moreno lost her sibling to suicide and has become co-founder for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Southern Texas Chapter. She shared that she sometimes goes through waves of emotions at times.
Garcia Moreno lost her brother, Ricardo, at the age of 49 to an apparent suicide in February 2011. He was a priest in Brownsville.
For more information on the nonprofit organization’s RGV chapter, visit it at www.facebook.com/AFSPRGV or the national page, www.afsp.org.
A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com