New Jersey Chapter Attends 2025 AFSP Chapter Leadership Conference
February 11, 2025 – 5 min read
Each year, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) hosts the Chapter Leadership Conference (CLC), bringing together volunteers from 70+ chapters across the country to to hear about current and future AFSP programs and activities, gain skills and training, share thoughts and ideas, reflect on accomplishments, and inspire each other to move our mission forward. New Jersey Chapter staff and volunteers traveled to Houston, TX in January to take part in this year's conference.
Chapters Supporting Chapters
New Jersey Chapter Executive Director, Elizabeth Clemens, and New Jersey Chapter Board Member, Kelly Anderson, were panelists on the "Walk Talk: Keys to Successful Community Walks" plenary.
New Jersey Chapter Board Member and Loss & Healing Coordinator, Lori Jarck, was a panelist on the "Healing Together" plenary alongside Trisha Calabrese, MPH, SVP Programs; Dan Egan, Chair, AFSP Loss & Healing Council; Tiffany Hall, AFSP Loss & Healing Council; and Tammi Ginsberg, LCPC, AFSP Loss & Healing Council. Lori also sits on the AFSP national Loss & Healing Council.
This session focused on AFSP's Loss & Healing programs, which offer support for those who have lost someone to suicide, including Healing Conversations.
2025 AFSP Chapter Leadership Conference Awards
2024 Century Club Walks - awarded for walks raising $100,000 or more:
🏆 Atlantic-Cape Walk
🏆 Bergen County Walk
🏆 Jersey Shore Walk
🏆 Mercer County Walk
🏆 Morris County Walk
Notably, the 2024 Atlantic-Cape Walk was ranked 11th for funds raised out of all Out of the Darkness Community Walks nationwide.
🏆 Pacesetter Award - awarded to the New Jersey Chapter for continued excellence in research, education, advocacy, outreach, and fundraising.
🏆 Pacesetter Award 🏆
After earning Overall Chapter of the Year at last year's conference, the New Jersey Chapter continues to set the pace of the organization thanks to the steadfast committment of our chapter staff and incredible volunteer base. We continue to increase our reach through educational programming, tabling at community events, providing support to loss survivors, Spring Events, Community Walks, advocacy, and so much more.
As a chapter, we focus our impact on delivering as much free educational programming and resources as possible in order to elevate AFSP's presence as a leader in suicide prevention in the state. We continue to meet our goals in both aspects of programming and resources, and made sure our reach included diverse communities throughout New Jersey. We used funds to insure that AFSP printed resources found their way to schools, places of worship, workplaces, behavioral health offices, first responder centers, funeral homes, libraries, and more.
Keep reading to learn more about what the New Jersey chapter accomplished in 2024.
Looking Back: 2024 in Review
The New Jersey Chapter continues their strong commitment to raise awareness of AFSP's mission and programs through advocacy, education, social media, and community outreach and were able to continue to expland operations in all areas due to a strong effort to recruit volunteers to strengthen our impact and reach more people than ever. We continue to work hard to engage community partners and forge new relationships.
In 2024, our chapter started a Junior Board, an idea brought on by our Nominations and Leadership Committee, to bring fresh talent and perspective while providing us with a pool of next generation leaders. The Junior Board consists of a Chair with seven additional members all ranging from 16-22 years of age who will serve as ambassadors to their communities. They have been challenged to provide us with new ideas and feedback to better serve and engage young people and their communities.
In 2024, the New Jersey Chapter raised over $1.3 million through our Out of the Darkness Walks, and recruited 175 NEW volunteers, an all-time high for our chapter. We have a strong base of year-round volunteers who work in different areas and on various committees to help us execute our business plan.
Educational Programming
The chapter hosted 161 programs throughout 2024 reaching 10,371 people. These programs include:
- Talk Saves Lives™
- It's Real
- More Than Sad
- AFSP 101
- L.E.T.S. Save Lives
- Teen Support Group Bereavement Facilitator Training
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
- Finding Hope
- Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) Training
- New Jersey Police Resiliency Trainings with Jeff Thompson
Out of the Darkness Walks and Spring Events
With twelve Out of the Darkness Community Walks taking place last fall, 7,414 participants joined the New Jersey Chapter walks, nearly ten percent increase in attendees from 2023. These walks raised $1,266,891, a personal best for our chapter. Five walks raised over $100,000 or more as mentioned in award section above. The Atlantic-Cape walk had $113,000 in sponsorship support, with every Atlantic City casino contributing, another milestone achieved. In addition to the Community Walks, our chapter hosted five Campus Walks, a Ride to Fight Suicide, and two Hikes for Hope.
Advocacy
Increasing our advocacy efforts has been a major focus over the last two years, and 2024 marked the first full year of Advocacy Committee meetings and welcomed Christie Schwieghardt as Advocacy Committee co-chair alongside New Jersey Chapter Board Member Siobhan Power. Both Christie and Siobhan joined the AFSP National Advocacy Ambassador Program, a tremendous resource to learn from and share ideas with other chapters.
Loss and Healing
The Healing Conversations program has 22 volunteers led by New Jersey Coordinator and National Loss & Healing Council member, Lori Jarck, and responded to 25 program requests in 2024. Our Loss & Healing team was present at nine of our twelve Out of the Darkness walks, providing comfort and a safe space for attendees to decompress throughout walk day. The New Jersey Chapter hosted six International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day events across the state with 223 participants, another ten percent in participant growth for our chapter.
Social Media
AFSP New Jersey has a social media team comprised of three volunteers lead by New Jersey Chapter Board Member, Christine Buck. Our chapter is active on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Bluesky. The social media team continues to share content provided by AFSP National, and curates New Jersey specific news and resources. The team also creates blog posts for the New Jersey Chapter website.
How Can You Get Involved?
The New Jersey Chapter is so grateful for all of our volunteers. We couldn't do this work without you. Together, we can create a world that is smart about mental health!
If you are interested in becoming a part of our volunteer community, complete our volunteer application. We're always thrilled to welcome new faces with a passion for making a difference!