DOVER — DJ’s Alliance will host the Survivor Day Trot 5k Nov. 23 at Buffalo Wild Wings beginning with a free Kiddie K, followed by the race at 9 a.m.
The 5K is being held on International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day (ISOSLD).
Funds raised will directly benefit programming throughout the state. Registration is $30 per walker or runner with a virtual 5k option through Nov. 21 and $35 on the day of the event starting at 8 a.m.
“The holidays can be incredibly difficult to navigate when we’re grieving a loss. This is a day to honor that journey, remember our loved ones and be with others who understand the mixed bag of emotions after losing someone to suicide,” DJ’s Alliance Co-Treasurer and Board Member Heather Cruz-Hackett said.
“We hope that by hosting this 5k on ISOSLD, we can fill a gap for families across the state who could benefit from walking the loss journey together.”
Vice Chair Amber Graham said the organization, which is still in its first year of operation, has already started walking the journey with loss survivors and mental health professionals across the state by providing grief and suicide loss specific resources, as well as peer support and community outreach.
“We are shining a light on postvention in Delaware, or the support offered after a suicide loss. It is a critical piece of the puzzle in helping jumpstart healing in that kind of traumatic loss, but it’s often missing altogether. Our team has really worked hard to make connections so postvention finds a permanent home in Delaware,” she said.
Part of that support for DJ’s Alliance included becoming Delaware’s first LOSSTeam, complete with a peer program through which new survivors are connected to others who share a similar loss.
“Our peer program has been at the heart of our mission and goals and has already worked to help survivors in our state. Our team is built with loss survivors in mind, many of us having experienced a suicide loss of our own and we remember those hollow, but overwhelming feelings of shame, love and loss, regret, anger. . . It’s really too much to deal with alone and that’s why we’re here,” said Ms. Cruz-Hackett.
Along with connecting new survivors with trained volunteers, DJ’s Alliance also offers resource and care packages as available to those who find themselves on this unexpected path.
Each package costs the organization up to $50 and includes grief and suicide loss specific resources from groups such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors, as well as other resources for youth and veterans, and self-care items curated by the Delaware-based LOSSTeam.
“We have made amazing progress this year in terms of introducing postvention to our state with minimal resources. I think our question for next year should be – what can Delaware dream up if we have the ability to do more with this concentrated effort? And that’s why we need support from our communities because we can’t do this work alone,” said Ms. Graham.
DJ’s Alliance also encourages survivors to sign up for the ISOSLD memorial event hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Delaware Chapter on the same day from 11-2 p.m. at the Dover Public Library. To register, visit dover-delaware.isosld.afsp.org .
For more information, or to register for or sponsor the Survivor Day Trot 5k, visit DJsAlliance.com .
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