The Out of the Darkness Walk is shedding light on  prevalent mental health issues in current society.

The fifth annual Out of the Darkness walk on May 20, will raise awareness on  suicide and suicide prevention, according to South counselor Beth Walsh-Sahutske.

The resource fair, beginning at 10 a.m., will have a Wayne State counselor and psychologist who will perform depression and anxiety screenings, along with many other resources available for students. With a short opening ceremony, the walk will start at 11 a.m. according to Walsh-Sahutske.

“We will have a whole variety of resources in terms of mindfulness, art, yoga, suicide awareness programs, the family center and a lot of different organizations to get people a lot of different options for finding healthy ways to cope with anxiety, stress and depression,” Walsh-Sahutske said.

Volunteers and Walsh-Sahutske are confident that the Out of the Darkness walk will illuminate critical problems that riddle society, including suicide.

“The walk is to raise awareness to the issue of suicide which is generally something people feel uncomfortable talking about,” Walsh-Sahutske said. “Many people (believe) they shouldn’t say anything about (the issue of mental illness), they don’t put it in power with other physical ailments, (for example) you say I have a heart condition, I need to go to the heart doctor, (it’s the same thing with when) I have a mental condition I need to go the the therapist.”

The student body can participate in several ways, some being simply walking, volunteering, or donating money, according to Josie Monahan ’20.

“Students can join and participate in the walk, as well as donating money, (people could) also volunteer, helping out with the actual walk itself and still walk,” Moncivais said.

The walk raised an estimate of 10,600 dollars last year, which was used to increase the school’s resources, according to Walsh-Sahutske.

“(50 percent of) the money raised by the walk goes to our school and our resources with mental illness while the other 50 percent will go out to the AFSP to fund their suicide prevention program, and project 2025 which it to reduce the risk of suicide rates by 20 percent by 2025,” Monahan said.

There is a positive reaction toward this walk in the student body, showing the helping and caring nature of the students, according to Walsh-Sahutske.

“Students usually seem really excited (about this walk), it’s just a matter of getting the word out there even more and trying to get them to actually go and sign up,” Gabriela Moncivais ’20 said.

For the past five years, this walk has been conducted and has a promising future regarding it’s conduction, according to Walsh-Sahutske.

“This is the fifth walk at south and we’re definitely planning on keeping it, until that suicide rate is down to zero,” Monahan said.

There is a great significance to this walk as it provides an open forum for people to talk about serious issues such as depression and suicide, according to Monahan.

“I think that it’s amazing (that this walk is happening) and I feel happy that (the topic of suicide and it’s prevention) is starting to become a more prevalent topic and and it isn’t so taboo anymore, I think there was a point in time where people wouldn’t want to talk about it but now the stigma is starting to break a little bit,” Moncivais said. “I mean there’s still a ways to go but we are definitely making progress and I think it’s great that people are starting to do something instead of pretending it’s not there.”

The walks main purpose is to bring to light the seriousness of suicide in the present society and to provide resources to aid the prevention of suicide, according to Walsh-Sahutske.

“(People are) starting to shine a light on this issue and I’m encouraged that people are recognizing that this is a problem and they want to do something about that. This generation is becoming active and supportive of the causes that are critical to our society,” Walsh-Sahutske said. “There’s two times as many suicides in Michigan as there are homicides. And you hear about homicides all the time in the news, so this is really important because I think your generation is saying no, we’re not going to continue on with these statistics.”

According to Walsh-Sahutske, no matter how much people like to donate and walk for causes, the most important thing is to spread the word.

“Continuing to talk about (suicide and how to prevent it) is the most important thing, is that students recognize that this is a problem and that suicide is preventable and this is a statistic that needs to go backwards,” Walsh-Sahutske said.

There are approximately 250 participants in this year’s walk, and Walsh-Sahutske hopes that it grows every year, as it shows the power of the people.

“We walk to make a difference, to show people, there’s power in numbers,” Moncivais said.