On Sunday, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention invites area residents to “walk with us to prevent suicide.”

The Community Walk is one of hundreds that have been held throughout the country as part of the organization’s efforts to bring mental health conditions “Out of the Darkness and create a culture that’s smart about mental health” by both raising awareness and providing support.

The Fort Myers/Cape Coral Walk set for Nov. 17 will be held at Lakes Park in Fort Myers. On-site registration will begin at 8 a.m. with the program starting at 9.

The public is invited — and encouraged — to take part.

Mental health conditions are among the least-shared, least-discussed of illnesses.

Yet they are common.

Very common.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five adults in the U.S. — more than 60 million of us — live with a mental health condition.

Meanwhile, death by suicide is at a crisis rate.

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S.: One person dies every 11 minutes from suicide, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

Suicide is the second most common cause of death for children 10-14; the third most common for those 15-24 and the second most common for adults 25-34, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center states.

Veterans are at particular risk: Suicide is the second leading cause of death for veterans under 45 with a reported average of 17 deaths per day, a figure that may be under reported, according to a 2022 report cited by Mission Roll Call.

That report, prepared by America’s Warrior Partnership and Duke University, suggests that “as many as 24 veterans a day die on average from suicide” and that “an additional 20 die by ‘self-injury mortality,’ otherwise known as overdose.”

We acknowledge that an awareness walk is not a solution.

But it is recognition of a national health issue that has not only been ill-addressed but politicized, an all-too-common government “solution.”

Walks such as these show that they — our family members, our neighbors, our co-workers — are not alone.

Citizen editorial