Month: August 2024

Ahead of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September, Arkansas SPJ presents From Stigma to Understanding: Best Practices for Suicide Reporting, a program highlighting the importance of responsible reporting on mental health and suicide, including safe reporting guidelines and resources for journalists. The webinar will take place from 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28. Click the following link to join. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82760545392

FOX16 evening anchor Kevin Kelly, who launched an anti-bullying campaign called Step-Up, Stop Bullying, will moderate the program with Jacqueline Sharp, area director for the Arkansas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Aneri Pattani, a senior correspondent at KFF Health News, a national nonprofit outlet covering U.S. health care and health policy.

Pattani’s reporting focuses on mental health, suicide, and substance use. She recently completed her masters in public health as a Bloomberg fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where she helped create a free online course to teach journalists how to responsibly report on suicide.

Sharp graduated from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a Bachelor of Science. While studying at university, Sharp said she volunteered for a mentoring program and fell in love with the nonprofit world. She has more than 12 years of nonprofit experience. She began her role with AFSP in August 2021. She said she was drawn to this work because of her own lived experience during postpartum; she has loved ones she supports who struggle, and she believes that mental health is physical health. She recently wrote a blog for Newsweek, helping to highlight her lived experience around maternal mental health.