BUFFALO, N.Y. — When it comes to suicide prevention, it takes more than just making people aware of resources.

“We can keep trying to make people aware of the services that are out there but having a full understanding of what’s specifically happening in this community,” said Assemblyman Patrick Burke, (D) Assembly 1-Orchard Park.

Which is why Burke is hoping to use real stories to make a bigger impact. 

“We’re encouraging people to participate in a survey that's going out now,” he said. “We sent mailers to everyone in this area. And really it's to get feedback from the community so we have as many community participants as possible.”

What You Need To Know

  • Sunday kicked off National Suicide Prevention Week. 

  • A study on two zip codes in South Buffalo is looking to understand the impact of suicide on communities. 

  • Cluster suicides are defined as multiple suicides that occur closely together in time and space.

Asking people in Buffalo’s 14220 and 14210 zip codes, which have experienced what are called 'cluster suicides,' mulltiple suicides that occur closely together in time and space, to share their real-life impact of suicide through an anonymous survey in an attempt to find palpable solutions.

“What we're seeing with this particular study is that you have a community that is a very tight-knit community, one loss has a significant ripple effect and that ripple effect is really what we’re trying to get our arms around when we look at the study,” said Jessica Piero, president and CEO of Crisis Services for Erie County.

“This has been a huge, I wouldn’t say passion because it’s not fun, but since my brother died in 2015 by suicide and I lost a lot of friends to suicide,” said Allison Schroder Gilleet, a woman planning on participating in the study. 

The goal of the survey to act as a safe place to talk about suicide and mental health struggles while also being a way to learn how to help.

“I think some of the questions and some of the things that people don’t want to say out loud might be written down on that paper,” Schroder Gilleet said.

It's giving those impacted a space to share.

“Some people are grief-stricken. They’re at home and they can’t go to different functions and things surrounding suicide because it’s too hard," Schroder Gilleet said. "So I think in this case, you’re at home, you can be very intimate [and] they don’t know who you are."