Welcome to this installment of The People of Michigan Medicine, a place where we highlight the personal side of things. In this space, we ask colleagues to provide experiences talents, and viewpoints personal to them, while also sharing what makes Michigan Medicine a special place to be.
For September, we highlight lab manager and research project coordinator Nick Brdar, who is also a psychiatric care worker (PCW) on 8CAP (Family Unit for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellness).
Brdar regularly collaborates his research work at the U-M School of Social Work with Lindsay Bornheimer, Ph.D., LCSW, who is a faculty member of Michigan Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and the Suicide prevention, Treatment, Research Lab (StaR Lab).
The path to prevention
The Ann Arbor Out of the Darkness Walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) takes place downtown Ann Arbor on Sunday, Oct. 6. It’s a significant day for Brdar, who is co-chair for the walk.
But Brdar’s story – and interest in mental health -- goes much deeper than that.
Brdar’s workdays are split between the School of Social Work and Michigan Medicine, but for as long as he can remember, he has had a personal interest in mental health and suicide prevention for various reasons. High school was the time that his personal interest developed into a desire to make change.
“There was a small suicide prevention walk in high school that I participated in,” Brdar said. “After graduating high school and arriving at the University of Michigan for undergrad, I immediately started to look for ways to get involved in suicide prevention on campus.”
Making change at U-M
At U-M, Brdar focused on psychology and neuroscience. He studied mental health in the classroom, but wanted more. After coming across the U-M’s chapter for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Brdar found a way to be involved and make a greater impact.
AFSP is the nation’s leading suicide prevention nonprofit, leading the fight by raising funds to support suicide prevention education programming, support for loss survivors, state and federal advocacy, suicide research grants and more.
“Initially, I was involved in helping with prevention education programming,” Brdar said. “This was exciting because we would present to different student organizations on campus about the warning signs and risk factors of suicide and what we all can do to prevent it. I loved being able to have conversations about suicide prevention with people in areas that they may not have expected.”
During undergrad, Brdar’s passion for suicide prevention continued to grow, as did his desire to be increasingly involved in AFSP’s work. He went on to lead the programming committee and by his senior year he chaired the U-M Out of the Darkness Walk (OOTD), one of the nation’s largest campus walks for suicide prevention. To this day, Brdar said he remembers how exciting it was to be on campus.
“The Out of the Darkness walks are public statements that show that this community cares about suicide prevention and is committed to fighting this leading cause of death,” Brdar said. “After seeing the whole community of U-M get excited for suicide prevention, I got to see that the more involved I became, the more change there was across the campus.”
There’s always more to do
The transition from the U-M AFSP chapter work to being on the board for Michigan’s chapter of the AFSP was a humbling one for Nick. In college, Brdar said he felt like a big fish in a small pond. He was well connected with a lot of areas on campus that wanted to be involved in suicide prevention and was ready to reach a broader audience.
Brdar said it was clear upon graduation that even though he accomplished many goals at U-M, there was much more to work on.
“I recognized that U-M was making strides in awareness and community building,” Brdar said. “There is a lot more to our state than just U-M. The transition to post grad was a reality check for me. My efforts to raise awareness and create change at U-M as a student was great but now there was more that needed to be done.”
Never-ending support
For Brdar, AFSP is so important because he believes in all the work, from research to training the public and more. Now, as part of his work on the Michigan board of directors, he chairs the Youth and Young Adult committee and co-chairs the annual walk in Ann Arbor.
“Supporting suicide prevention is important because it’s clear that so many people have experience with suicide is some capacity,” Brdar said. “These walks give people a chance to physically get together and support the cause and one another.”
Suicide prevention walks occur all over the state and the Ann Arbor walk grows every year.
For the first time, the walk is taking place in downtown Ann Arbor and Brdar is hoping for a bigger impact this year by increasing visibility and raising awareness to those who have not been touched by suicide but want to show support.
“Walks focus on both hope and memory, providing space to honor those we’ve lost to suicide and supporting those with lived experience with suicide ideation or attempts,” Brdar noted. “These walks show those people with lived experience that people do want them here. No one is alone in their journey. Suicide prevention is a journey that we can all be a part of.”
Join the change
If you would like to join Nick and more than 800 others and raise awareness, the Ann Arbor OOTD Walk is on Sunday, Oct. 6. There is a “Department of Psychiatry team” that all are welcome to join and can register here.
Additionally, September is Suicide Prevention Month. Sept. 10 marked World Suicide Prevention Day. National Depression Screening Day is Oct. 7. This day is in effort to spread awareness about the impact of depression worldwide.
If you have concerns about depression there are free screenings available.
Resources
If you or someone you know needs mental health support, resources are available for you both at Michigan Medicine and beyond.
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988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: This line provides judgment-free support for mental health, substance use and more. Text, call or chat via 988. Services are available 24/7/365.
