The Richmond beer community will join together to honor the memory of Hardin Brotherton (brother of Lisa Brotherton Pumphrey of Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery) by participating in the Richmond chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s “Out of the Darkness” walk at Deep Run Park Saturday September 19th starting at 8am.

If you’d like to participate in the walk, you can join RVA Craft Beer’s team here. Please also consider helping us support AFSP’s mission by contributing here.

Lisa shared this about her brother Hardin:

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is the leader in the fight against suicide. They fund research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, and support survivors of suicide loss. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, AFSP has 75 local chapters with programs and events nationwide.

Suicide claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined.

• In 2013 (latest available data), there were 41,149 reported suicide deaths.
• Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 15 and 64 years in the United States.
• Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
• A person dies by suicide about every 12.8 minutes in the United States.
• Every day, approximately 112 Americans take their own life.
• Ninety percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.
• There are four male suicides for every female suicide, but three times as many females as males attempt suicide.
• 494,169 people visited a hospital for injuries due to self-harm behavior, suggesting that approximately 12 people harm themselves (not necessarily intending to take their lives) for every reported death by suicide.

25 million Americans suffer from depression each year.

• Over 50 percent of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. If one includes alcoholics who are depressed, this figure rises to over 75 percent.
• Depression affects nearly 5-8 percent of Americans ages 18 and over in a given year.
• More Americans suffer from depression than coronary heart disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS.
• Depression is among the most treatable of psychiatric illnesses. Between 80 percent and 90 percent of people with depression respond positively to treatment, and almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms. But first, depression has to be recognized.

The best way to prevent suicide is through early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of depression and other mood disorders.