UW-Green Bay Hosts Northeast Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Summit on May 8, 2025 in Green Bay
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2025
Green Bay, WI — The University of Wisconsin – Green Bay is hosting the Northeast Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Summit being held on Thursday, May 8, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.at the Brown County Central Library. The summit is open to the community, and social workers, therapists, mental health professionals and everyone touched by suicide are encouraged to register. “Unity in Diversity” is the theme of this year’s summit
Highlighting the event is keynote speaker Earl Dotson, former Packer and Super Bowl Champion, whose son died by suicide. He will address attendees about “A Broken Man: Learning to Feel After Loss.” Dotson had always felt he was broken because mental health wasn’t talked about. His Green Bay Packers teammates helped save his life. By not being able to fix himself, Dotson wasn’t able to help his son, who died by suicide, and now it is his calling to give people the tools to safely feel and cope and know that they are not alone.
Wisconsin is facing a significant challenge with suicide rates, which have been rising over the past two decades. Suicide is now one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the state (Wisconsin Department of Health Services.)
Some populations are more vulnerable to suicide, and this year’s summit will encourage conversation and strategies that focus on an inclusive suicide prevention response. Attendees can choose from the the following breakout sessions:
- VA S.A.V.E Training
- Compassion Resilience in Practice
- Multicultural Approaches to Trauma-Informed Care
- Dudes + T.A.C.O.S.
- Suicide Prevention and Postvention Efforts in Response to a Major Event
- Intersectionality in Mental Healthcare/Countering Influential Implicit Bias
- Teen Mental Health: Trends, Challenges & Surprising Realities
- Suicide in the Tribal Community
The closing session “It’s OK to Not be OK” will be delivered by Jeffrey Ditzenberger, a suicide survivor and a certified mental health life coach and peer specialist in mental health and addiction recovery. A former corn and soybean farmer, he founded TUGS to promote mental wellness in rural communities.
The event is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, in partnership with Brown County Coalition for Suicide Prevention and community collaborators Center for Suicide Awareness, Family Services, Brown County Health and Human Services and Unity Hospice.
To learn more about Northeast Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Summit, including detailed information about sessions, visit the event website. If you have questions or would like to get involved with the summit, please contact Melissa Betke, Program Specialist, at betkem@uwgb.edu or 920-663-7337.
The Northeast Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Summit is planned by the Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Training with coordination support from the Psychology and Social Work Departments. Brown County Coalition for Suicide Prevention is the title event sponsor and Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS) is a snack sponsor.
About UW-Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a school of resilient problem solvers who dare to reach higher with the power of education that ignites growth and answers the biggest challenges. Serving 11,188 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students as well as 85,883 continuing education learners annually, UW-Green Bay offers 200 academic degrees, programs, and certificates. With four campus locations in Northeast Wisconsin, the University’s access mission welcomes all students who want to learn, from every corner of the world. Championing bold thinking since opening its doors in 1965, it is a university on the rise – Wisconsin’s fastest-growing UW. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.
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