March 31 to be Declared Quad-Cities Teen Suicide Prevention Day

IA/IL QUAD-CITIES – At 8:30 a.m. this Thursday, the Mayors of five major communities in the Quad-Cities will meet to sign a proclamation declaring that day, March 31, to be Quad-Cities Teen Suicide Prevention Day throughout the Iowa/Illinois Quad-Cities. The signing will take place in the lobby of the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf, IA. The proclamation will encourage Quad-Citians to recognize this day as a time to acknowledge this concern and reach out to those in need of support and guidance.

Quad-Cities Mayors in attendance will be: Robert Gallagher, Mayor, Bettendorf, Iowa; Frank Klipsch, Mayor, Davenport, Iowa; John Thodos, Mayor, East Moline, Illinois; Scott Raes, Mayor, Moline, Illinois; and Dennis Pauley, Mayor, Rock Island, Illinois.

“Teen depression and suicide are vital community concerns,” said Mike Mickle, President of Mickle Communications, a marketing and video production company and publisher of QC Family Focus. “The signing of this Proclamation will send out a powerful message to our community’s young people, and that message is: We care and we are listening.”

For months, Mickle Communications has been working to inform the Quad-Cities community about these complex mental health issues. Not only have Mickle Communications team members been covering these topics in their community magazine, QC Family Focus, but they also have been producing a documentary entitled If You Only Knew: The Journey through Teen Depression and Suicide. “We have been using every resource at our disposal to help our Quad-Cities communities to learn about and address these issues,” Mickle said.

If You Only Knew: The Journey through Teen Depression and Suicide will be broadcast on WQPT at 8 p.m., March 31. WQPT is devoting a full night on March 31 to this important topic, starting with The Cities with Jim Mertens at 7 p.m. and The Whitney Reynolds Show at 7:30 p.m. The Mickle Communications documentary begins at 8 p.m., and at 9 p.m., a 30-minute roundtable discussion, Teens Talk, will include input from prominent area psychologists. Losing Lambert: A Journey Through Survival & Hope airs at 9:30 p.m., followed by The Misunderstood Epidemic: Depression at 10 p.m.

“WQPT is very proud to partner with Mickle Communications to devote an evening of programming that addresses teen depression and suicide,” said Lora Adams, Director of Marketing and Local Content at WQPT/Quad Cities PBS. “We have all experienced the sadness of opening a newspaper and seeing that a young person has taken this path. It is heartbreaking, but if there is an opportunity to show them and their parents that there is help close by, we are glad to do that.”

If You Only Knew: The Journey through Teen Depression and Suicide is sponsored by Mel Foster Co.; Tri-City Electric Co.; XPAC; UnityPoint Health Trinity; and UnityPoint Health Robert Young Center. “We thank our generous sponsors,” Mickle said, “as well as WQPT and the many other organizations and individuals who have shown the documentary so much support.”

To find out more about WQPT programming to address teen issues, visit wqpt.org/stopbullying. For more information on Mickle Communications, email mmickle@micklecommunications.com or visit micklecommunications.com.

WHEREAS, every day in the United States, an estimated 5,400 young people attempt suicide, and according to HealthResearchFunding.org, suicide is the third leading cause of death for teenagers, ages 12 to 18; and

WHEREAS, teen suicide is devastating for families, friends and community members who are left behind, and reaching out to those who have lost someone to suicide is vital; and

WHEREAS, the issue of teen depression and suicide is a community crisis that needs to be addressed, and this conversation needs to be initiated in the Iowa/Illinois Quad-Cities; and

WHEREAS, Mickle Communications has partnered with WQPT to devote the evening of March 31, 2016, to programming that addresses teen depression and suicide, including the documentary, If You Only Know: The Journey Through Teen Depression and Suicide; and

WHEREAS, resources are available in the Quad-Cities to help those considering suicide, and reaching out to someone in need of help through a proactive, non-judgmental approach can make all the difference – but first those individuals must be urged to seek those resources;

NOW, THEREFORE, we, the Mayors of the five major communities of the Quad-Cities, do hereby proclaim MARCH 31, 2016, as QUAD-CITIES TEEN SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY throughout the Iowa/Illinois Quad-Cities, and encourage our citizens to recognize this day as a time to acknowledge this concern and reach out to those in need of support and guidance.

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Robert Gallagher, Mayor, Bettendorf, Iowa

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Frank Klipsch, Mayor, Davenport, Iowa

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John Thodos, Mayor, East Moline, Illinois

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Scott Raes, Mayor, Moline, Illinois

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Dennis Pauley, Mayor, Rock Island, Illinois