Events
Events
Mental Health is Part of Overall Health: A Personal Journey and Call to Action (Plenary Session)
April 7, 2025 - Session Description: Mental health, like oral health, is integral to overall health and is also siloed in its own system. Join Harry Bruell for a poignant session exploring his family’s personal journey with mental health and suicide, the significance of early diagnosis and treatment, and the critical importance of health equity. Harry will share his story of the challenges he encountered to find treatment for his daughter—who was ultimately lost to suicide at the age of 14, his path forward to help others, and where collective efforts can save lives. This talk will unravel systemic barriers to mental healthcare and the impact that stigmatizing regulations have on these critical issues. Emphasizing evidence-based practices, he’ll discuss ways to support those with mental illness or suicidal ideation, integrate mental health into overall healthcare, and advocate for policy changes to expand healthcare coverage and combat stigma. Harry’s call to action will suggest what you can do on a personal, institutional, and policy level to make a difference. Prepare to be motivated to drive change in your communities and beyond.
November 18, 2024. Are you or someone you know navigating the pain of losing a loved one to suicide? Join us for a free, transformative session with Jenny Bruell and Harry Bruell, who will share their deeply personal journey after losing their 14-year-old daughter, Taya, to suicide. *Please note, this will NOT be recorded.
November 2, 2024, Nashville, Tennessee
Guest Speakers: Jenny and Harry Bruell
August 22, 2024, Phoenix, AZ
Jenny & Harry Bruell - speakers on Suicide Panel
July 12, 2024, Berkeley, CA
Jenny & Harry Bruell - speakers on the session, "What I wish I knew: Tips and Reflections for Parenting Complex Children"
What are some things we wish we knew that would have better prepared us to support our children’s complex needs? How do you find appropriate professionals to support the needs of your child as well as your own? How do you navigate conflicting professional recommendations as a parent? What about your self-care? Our experienced parents of teenagers and young adults will share their journeys navigating giftedness, mental health, and/or disabilities including what didn’t work. Multiple intersectionalities, such as culture, gender identity, levels of giftedness, disabilities, and mental health challenges, increase the complexity of parenting. This session is an opportunity to discuss and ask questions about difficult topics such as suicide, self-harm, missed and misdiagnosis, and extreme behaviors you may encounter in your parenting journey. Parents Jenny and Harry Bruell share their journey of losing their gifted daughter to suicide. The topics can be emotionally challenging and triggering to attendees. Please self-monitor and exercise self-care including leaving the session if necessary.
February 6, 2024 (via zoom)
Jenny & Harry Bruell, Support Group speakers
October 14, 2023, Santa Barbara, CA
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Jenny and Harry - Loss Survivor Speakers
This is a one day event with two opportunities to attend.
Peachtree Comprehensive Health
Atlanta, GA
9AM-12PM
Join us for a morning of community support with special guests Jenny and Harry Bruell, authors of “The After Journey: a survivor’s guide after the death of a loved one by suicide.”
This complimentary event is open to the community. We kindly ask for participants to RSVP for the date they will be attending.
March 7, 2023, Washington, DC
The CDC reported earlier this year that 37% of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 44% reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year. The Mayo Clinic reported this summer that 44% of college students reported having symptoms of depression and anxiety. In late 2021 the Surgeon General declared a youth mental health crisis reporting that 19% of high school students seriously considering attempting suicide, a 36% increase from 2009 to 2019, and about 16% made a suicide plan in the prior year, a 44% increase from 2009 to 2019.
Every Corps in America most certainly has Corpsmembers, crew leaders/supervisors and staff dealing with mental health challenges. This session will present two tools for addressing mental health, an upstream preventative strategy followed by a response strategy. It will also present a model for suicidology and discuss how corps are well positioned to address two of the three tenants of the model. Presenter Harry Bruell was a longtime leader in the corps field before losing his daughter to suicide in 2016. He now runs a nonprofit focused on supporting people with disabilities including mental health diagnoses.
5th annual DBT-LBC Leadership, Strategies, and Future Directions November 11, 2022, Remote
Opening Speaker: Harry Bruell