The monthly newsletter of the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network
TSPN begins the year thankful for everyone's support during the past year and hopeful for new beginnings in 2023. This coming year, we plan to announce a statewide volunteer recruitment effort and assorted projects focusing on the Tennessee Strategies for Suicide Prevention. We'll provide details at our regional meetings and future announcements. We'll need the volunteers we already have, plus the ones you can bring in, to make our 2023 dreams come true!

In the meantime, what you're already doing is enough. The training sessions and exhibits certainly help, but even if all you do is talk to someone in crisis and connect them with the resources they need, that is more than enough. 

We hope to reach out to every one of you and every part of Tennessee with ways you can continue to give hope, save lives, and prevent suicide in Tennessee. We'll be in touch once those plans take shape as the new year proceeds.

In this issue

Hope Twinkles 2022
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Awareness and media events across Tennessee
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and more!

Photos from events across Tennessee
TSPN was a beneficiary of "Hope Twinkles 2022: Music for Healing Hearts", held November 13 at the Collegedale Commons.

This annual marathon strings concert staged by local youth orchestras and Creative Tenacity. Each year's concert benefits a different charity or group of connected causes. After the passing of Hudson Baker, a student at Collegedale Academy Middle School, organizers selected TSPN as this year's charity alongside Transformation Center Counseling.

152 musicians from across the Chattanooga area--students, parents, and teachers--representing 27 different studios--played during this year's 10.5-hour event, logging over 260 hours of collective playing time.

We are indebted to event organizer Ellen G. Francisco for coordinating this year's event, as well as all those who performed at this event and who donated to TSPN, either through Hope Twinkles or individual donations in Hudson's memory.
Northwest Regional Director Emily Oswald was in the spirit of the season on December 1, working with staff at Bethel University and University of Tennessee at Martin to set up "Hope and Hot Cocoa" stations ahead of upcoming finals.
On December 29, the Shelby County Gun Safety Council set up an exhibit at the L.Y.E. Stop the Violence Expo in Memphis. Memphis/Shelby County Regional Chair/TSPN Advisory Council Chair Audrey Elion (pictured above, second from right) is a member of the Council, along with TSPN Memphis/Shelby County Regional Director Justin Johnson.

The Gun Safety Council gave out free gun locks at the event, which also included the distribution of mental health information. The Council also plans several PSAs directly addressing suicide prevention. Details about this event are available on the WMC Action News 5 website.
TSPN's Memphis/Shelby County Region and the Spiritual Care Network of the Mid-South co-hosted a Christmas Holiday Luncheon at Hope Church in Cordova on December 20.

The event included remarks from Rev. Rufus Smith and musical performances by singer/guitarist Paul Berkes and saxophonist Aisha D. Dubose.

Our thanks to Compass Intervention Center and Good Landing for co-sponsoring lunch.
UPCOMING TRAININGS, MEETINGS & EVENTS
January 9: The Behavioral Health and Wellness Association
of Hickman and Perry Counties
Contact point: mchristian@tspn.org

January 11: South Central regional meeting
Contact point: mchristian@tspn.org

Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, and Polk Counties Task Force meeting
Contact point: tim@directpca.com

January 12: Mid-Cumberland regional meeting
Contact point: eehiemua@tspn.org

January 16: Northwest regional meeting
Contact point: eoswald@tspn.org

January 17: Memphis/Shelby County regional meeting
Contact point: jjohnson@tspn.org

January 18: Southwest regional meeting
Contact point: Lcarr@tspn.org

January 19: East regional meeting
Contact point: ehager@tspn.org

January 26: Northeast regional meeting
Contact point: ksharpe@tspn.org

Upper Cumberland regional meeting
Contact point: manderson@tspn.org

February 2: Southeast Regional Meeting
Contact point: evelyn.nite@gmail.com

February 7: Suicide Prevention Task Force meetings for Mid-Cumberland Region
ASIST training series across the state
Check our Eventbrite for training dates & locations

Community-Led Suicide Prevention
Communities play a key role in promoting hope and mental health. But how can they find resources to advance their efforts? A new, free website from Education Development Center (EDC), Community-Led Suicide Prevention (https://www.communitysuicideprevention.org), can help. The website is designed for communities and state agency, public health, and suicide prevention professionals who support them. It provides a step-by-step process and how-to tools to propel suicide prevention planning, action, and success. Explore the website and contact Julie Ebin (jebin@edc.org) to learn more. 
We would like to recognize the following donors & sponsors for their generous contributions toward suicide prevention in Tennessee


Again, special thanks to Creative Tenacity and all the local youth orchestras who participated in Hope Twinkles '22, who selected TSPN as one of this year's chosen charities.


Timothy William Elmore
Timothy William Elmore
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