Out of the Darkness Community Walk is the largest fundraising event yearly for the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. AFSP is the largest non-profit fundraiser for suicide prevention research in the US, and provides free education, resources, and programming to the community every day. This event has been supported by DBHIDS yearly for a long time. Patrick Kessel, Suicide Prevention Coordinator, is both involved on the DBHIDS and AFSP side of this event. He can be contacted anytime about this event.

The Community Walks, held in hundreds of communities across the country, are the core of the Out of the Darkness movement, which began in 2004. These events give people the courage to open up about their own connections to the cause, and a platform to create a culture that’s smarter about mental health. Friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers walk side-by-side, supporting each other and in memory of those we’ve lost.