Mary, Health Educator: A heart-driven force for healing, advocacy, and suicide prevention

By Mary Gloner, Interim Executive Director, CASSY

The strength and value [of the HEARD Alliance] in the school system and its influence is invaluable. Whether advocating for policy at district- or county-level or supporting amidst crisis, the HEARD Alliance heals and mobilizes.

What I learned about the HEARD Alliance and its value was that it was co-founded pretty much by the same people who launched Project Safety Net. The HEARD Alliance was more focused on capacity building and drawing a lot of the clinical expertise. And Project Safety Net was about mobilizing community members from different perspectives and sectors. We were fortunate that the same group of leaders and expertise co-founded two groups, which allowed for opportunities and for synergy easily.

As a health educator, I try to get people conditioned more in the upstream and prevention and maybe intervention rather than postvention [efforts]. I would always encourage school districts to use the HEARD Alliance K-12 Toolkit. The HEARD Alliance developed this tool, and it's not just a book! It's an actual tool that schools use and some schools depend on, and it continues to be valuable and continues to grow.

The HEARD Alliance goes beyond Palo Alto, getting information out to the various districts and providing technical assistance. And regionally [in the San Francisco Bay Area], the HEARD Alliance is / was pivotal and may influence legislations to ensure suicide prevention policies.

We're healing from our own trauma. Having to cope with mental health or suicide and other things, so I'm glad that there's that openness I feel and remember about the group (HEARD). I think the HEARD Alliance is unique because of the leadership, the way it was founded. It's a heart project.