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There is hope. Hope for today, hope for tomorrow and hope for the future. 

That’s the message of the Joy Inside Tears’ annual Suicide Prevention Awareness rally that was held on Lafayette Square on Saturday.

The event is held each year in September in recognition of Suicide Prevention Month.

Joy Inside Tears is a mental health non-profit in LaGrange. The non-profit hosted its second annual Suicide Prevention Awareness event over the weekend to a huge crowd. 

Joy Inside Tears CEO Tracie Halcrombe said the event was an amazing success.

“I think it was amazing,” Halcrombe said. “A lot of the community was here. A lot of the partners were able to share the resources and support. I think it really went well.”

Agencies and partners throughout the community surrounded the square to provide informational resources to families seeking help with mental health and suicide prevention. Groups like the Department of Public Health, Wellstar, DSPII Waypoint Veterans Services, the Troup County School System, the Veal Group and many more were available to provide targeted mental health resources for those in need.

Halcrombe said their goal was to provide information to everyone in our community, whether they be veterans, parents, mothers, LGBTQ, young or old.

Several speakers also shared their struggles with thoughts of suicide, like Miss LaGrange Abby Henderson, who openly shared their stories.

“I was met with the harsh reality of suicide at the age of 15. I was ready to go through with my plan, and the moment that happened that was sort of a divine intervention for me. I remembered the fact that my mom was in the other room and that’s when I realized that I needed to go get help, and I needed to speak up,” Henderson said.

“When I went to my mom to tell what was going on … for her, it felt like something that happened so quickly, something that seemed like a 24-hour switch that happened so quickly for me, it was a snowball effect that happened to be an avalanche of me crawling out of the eyes of suicidal ideations,” Henderson said.

“Silence led me to believe that I was not worth living the life that God graciously gave me,” Henderson said. “Silence may be our enemy, the one way we can defeat it is by speaking up and reaching out to those you are suffering,” Henderson said. “Speaking up and reaching out is the first and hardest step. However, when you take that step, it leads you to a life of resilience and strength.”

“You have survived 100% of your bad days. When you survive 100% of those bad days, it makes those good days even better,” she said.

Joy Inside Tears is located at 200 E. Depot Street in LaGrange.