How Long Beach is taking strides against suicide

The Long Island Crisis Center held its 15th annual suicide prevention walk on the Long Beach Boardwalk this past Sunday.

The event, dubbed “Let’s Walk, Let’s Talk ... Stepping Together to Prevent Suicide,” unites those impacted by suicide, and raises funds so the crisis center can continue doing what it does best: remain a 24/7 center, that is there to help Long Islanders in times of need.

The Long Island Crisis Center is based in Bellmore, but Long Beach’s boardwalk has long been the site of the walk. The event brings together countless families and individuals who have either been personally affected by suicide, or wish to see a world without it.

“You need a place for people to come together to know that they’re there to talk about suicide, but that everybody there is accepting and has either been touched by it or is comfortable talking about it,” Theresa Buhse, the crisis center’s executive director said.

The crisis center was founded in 1971, and offers a multitude of services to the Long Island communities.

It operates several hotlines, including its generic crisis number, (516) 679-1111 and is the 988 for the Long Island region — which is the national suicide hotline number.

The crisis center also helps members of the LGBTQ community, through its subsidiary agency, PFY, which formerly stood for Pride For Youth. PFY, founded in 1993, is now known simply by its acronym.

“The LGBTQ population,” Tawni Engel, the associate executive director, said, “unfortunately has much higher rates of suicide as well as suicidal ideation. It’s kind of one of the reasons why we started PFY 30 years ago. People were calling the hotlines and looking for services.”

The walk kicked off with a short ceremony, that honored the crisis center’s Person of the Year — board treasurer Norman Kay.

As of Oct. 2, the crisis center raised over $45,000 through 2023’s walk.

“As much as it is a somber topic that we’re all coming together to address,” Engel said, “it’s also really kind of an uplifting day because we see all these families come together that have had this same, very unfortunate experience, but yet, they can help each other with each other’s stories.”

“I know it sounds funny, but we always say, ‘It’s always a great day — it’s always beautiful,’” Buhse said. “A good majority of the people there have been touched by suicide personally. It’s a tough subject. Suicide, you know, it’s still taboo and not everybody is open to talking about it. I think what’s really special about this event is pretty much everyone there is somewhat on the same page, in that this is something that needs to be discussed, in order to be prevented.”

To learn more about the crisis center, the walk, and how to get involved, visit LongIslandCrisisCenter.org.