When Sam Alm tragically took his own life last year, he left his sister, Heather Dudycha, grieving and wondering, what now?<\/p>\n
(ABC 6 News) \u2013 When Sam Alm tragically was lost to suicide last year, he left his sister, Heather Dudycha, grieving and wondering, what now?<\/p>\n
For Dudycha, the answer to that question took some time, but eventually concluded that humans help. Spreading that word has allowed Dudycha to find peace amidst tragedy as she helps others fight similar battles.<\/p>\n
Dudycha started the group \u201cBeyond the Shadows\u201d which seeks to create a supportive environment where conversations about mental health can flourish. The group hosted its first \u201cMental Health Matters,\u201d and it\u2019s that type of advocacy Dudycha finds peace in. <\/p>\n
\u201cHelping with this event has really helped me turn that pain into purpose and connect people with the resources they need,\u201d Dudycha said.<\/p>\n
While various speakers addressed folks sitting across the bandshell lawn, vendors, like David Koier of the Austin Bruins, lined the bike path offering their services and reminded people they are not alone, and that mental illness looks different for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying in sports, I mean, half of it is mental, and it\u2019s just really important to make sure that everyone is doing okay and checking in on people,\u201d Koier said.<\/p>\n
For the Bruins, that means talking about how they are feeling when teammates feel the pressure of finding a college commitment. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there is pressure on them, that, there is people to talk with,\u201d Koier said. \u201cSome people help deal with that sort of stuff and there shouldn\u2019t be that much pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an effort to show people help is out there, Dudycha asked people to raise different colored flags, each one symbolizing a unique way someone can help.<\/p>\n
Keith Van Beek watched among the crowd as speakers shared their stories and people waved their flags. He said his message to people struggling was to simply ask for help. <\/p>\n
\u201cMake the call, one call, your best friend, whoever, mom, dad, cousin, uncle. Just make the call before you do something,\u201d Van Beek said.<\/p>\n
Beyond shedding light on mental health issues, Dudycha said she plans to use the proceeds gathered from raffle ticket purchases and apparel sales to help fund scholarships for Riverland Community College students.<\/p>\n
People may purchase tickets here<\/a> up until August 27<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Alex Karwowski<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Austin<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Mental health<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Sam Alm tragically took his own life last year, he left his sister, Heather Dudycha, grieving and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-107914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}