Jennifer Moffet is affiliated with local and national suicide prevention organizations. During the Lincoln South Rotary Club meeting on February 17, 2023, we heard about her experiences and work helping to prevent suicide.
Jennifer (Jenn) started her presentation by sharing a very personal story about how she got involved with suicide prevention.
In 2004, when she was 24 years old, she lost someone to suicide - her step-father.
It took years before her family talked about what happened. She was alone - thrown into a world she knew nothing about - the world of mental health.
While attending a Papillion Days Parade - on Father's Day - her younger sister was handed a flyer from the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). The flyer invited everyone to seek support from the AFSP and invited people to volunteer. Jenn's sister stated "we need to do this for Dad".
Jenn read the brochure and that started her on this journey. She signed up for the next fundraiser - "Out of the Darkness Walk". But that wasn't it - she volunteered to work the day of The Walk and then she completed an application to be a part of the Board of the local chapter.
"We need suicide prevention to be important to more people than those that have been directly impacted", per Jenn.
She said that, just like we have been promoting CPR training to prevent deaths, we should promote training to identify signs and knowing how to provide help to prevent suicide.
Some of the stats Jenn provided:
- Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. with over 45,000 Americans dying each year
- Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for those ages 10-44
- It is estimated that there are 25 suicide attempts for each death, or more than 1 million attempts per year
Jenn pointed out that survivors of suicide attempts and their families and communities are impacted in both big and small ways.
Deaths due to suicide in Nebraska went down in 2020 but, unfortunately they were back up in 2021 by 4%. It is believed that the impact of the flood in Nebraska caused stress that led mental health issues. She also believes that is one positive outcome of the pandemic - that mental illness has been given more attention.
The AFSP work includes:
- Research
- Advocacy
- Prevention Education
- Interactive Screening Program
- Loss & Healing
- Chapters
She encouraged us all to think about tools to prevent suicide as we would a seat belt. We put it on even though we don't anticipate an accident. But we use it every time we drive to prevent deaths. We should learn how we can help detect and support those with mental health issues and prevent suicide.
She shared the Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition website:
https://www.nsspc.org/
BIO:
Jennifer Moffet works as a Senior Program Manager at PayPal Inc. and worked there for 19+ years. She also serves on the ‘Mind Yourself’ mental health committee for the PayPal Omaha site. And serve as a member of the Omaha Community Impact Team, which oversees site level employee volunteer involvement and giving for PayPal Omaha.
She graduated from Creighton University in 2016 with a BS in Nonprofit Leadership and am a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society. She served as the Board Chair for the Nebraska Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) from 2016-2022 and also was selected to be on their National Leadership Council starting in 2020. In 2021 she was elected to the executive board of the Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition. Jen is a certified facilitator of QPR, CALM, ASIST, Soul Shop and all AFSP educational programs.