Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E30: From Personal Struggle to Professional Mission: A Suicide Prevention Journey
What does authentic suicide prevention really look like? Kim Moeller, Executive Director of the Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County, shatters common misconceptions while sharing her organization's life-saving work in our community.
"The best thing a person can do is be a caring, kind human being, an active listener, witness another person's pain," Kim explains, debunking the harmful myth that talking about suicide increases risk. Research consistently shows the opposite—direct conversations can be lifesaving. This approach is especially crucial for reaching men, who account for nearly 80% of suicide deaths yet are less likely to engage with traditional mental health services.
Kim speaks from both professional expertise and profound personal experience, having attempted suicide herself at ages 11 and 26. Her journey toward healing, including her decision to embrace sobriety seven years ago while already working in suicide prevention, brings authenticity to her leadership. "I was somebody who was unwell, telling people 'it's okay to be unwell, it's okay to get help,' but I didn't know that for myself," she reveals.
The Alliance has evolved dramatically since its founding in 1989, growing from just 1.5 staff members to a team of 6-10 professionals after securing significant funding in 2018. Today, they're developing innovative approaches like intergenerational men's groups where connection happens naturally through shared meals and skills rather than formal therapy settings.
Most importantly, Kim wants listeners to know their services are completely free. Whether you're concerned about a loved one, grieving a suicide loss, or simply don't know where to turn, the Alliance provides training, education, outreach, and support without financial barriers. Connect with them at https://allianceforsuicideprevention.org/ and discover how simple human connection can save lives.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a suicide prevention professional in Larimer County? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Kim Moeller, with Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County. Kim, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Oh, it's great. I'm so excited to be here to talk to you about what we do and who we are.
Speaker 2:We're excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your Alliance for Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'm lucky to serve as the executive director over there, and we've been around since 1989 as a small nonprofit whose mission is to prevent suicide through training, education, outreach and offering support, and so for about 25 years it was a one and a half person nonprofit and then in 2018, with the passage of the 1A bill and the creation of the Behavioral Health Services and also the creation of the Colorado National Collaborative, which was a program out of the CDC we received a lot of funding and so we increased back in 2018 from one and a half people and since then we've been about a six to 10 person nonprofit here in Larimer County offering suicide prevention and support to those who've lost someone to suicide.
Speaker 2:How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is. You know, I didn't know this was a job. I didn't know that growing up, that this was a job, and I have lived experience with suicide. I attempted when I was 11 and then when, when I was 26, and I was in grad school getting a degree in counseling, and I came out and I happened to be a teacher and I had a friend who was like, hey, you should check out this job for a teacher and a therapist, and you know it led me into this world of nonprofit work and education and community building, and I had no idea any of this existed when I when I started it, and I will say today that it feels like a dream job being able to sit with people, you know, in sacred moments after they've lost somebody to suicide, but also to spend like time and joy in community, which is like true suicide prevention, and so we get to see the best of both worlds.
Speaker 2:What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think one of the biggest misconceptions in our industry is that if you talk about suicide, you're going to cause suicide.
Speaker 3:Now, the older, the older generations like millennials and older still tend to believe that.
Speaker 3:But the good news is that the younger the generation, the more we know that it's OK to talk about mental health. It's a lot of people will say but I'm not a therapist, I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do, and after a decade of doing this work, I would say that the best thing that a person can do is be a caring, kind human being, an active listener, tell, witness another person's pain, just showing up for your community as one human to the next. That is suicide prevention, and you don't have to be a therapist to do that, to say I see you. So I think that's a pretty common myth that I'd like to debunk today that it's always okay to ask people and talk about it, and there's no research in this world that says if you're worried about somebody and you ask them, are you thinking about suicide? That it's going to increase their risk. In fact, everything we know tells us that it's okay to talk about this if you're worried about somebody.
Speaker 2:Outside of who you're helping right now, is there a target group of people that you'd like to reach out to, and how are you trying to do that now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have two groups of people that we'd really love to reach out to right now, and one is older adults, and so we are engaging in all kinds of community activities and trying to find spaces and places where older adults are engaging.
Speaker 3:But we know that we have an aging population and that they are experiencing a lot of mental health challenges, and so we want to be able to get reconnected with them in whatever way we can, and so being able to come on a podcast like this and share our story is really helpful. And also, we really want to connect with men, so men have the highest rate of suicide. They account for about 78 to 82% of suicide deaths in Larimer County, as well as nationwide, and they're harder to connect with and so any kind of. Right now we have a we just started an intergenerational men's group where men, like older adult men and younger men can come together and they make a meal together and they share a skill together, and it's just a really beautiful way that we're trying to engage men in ways that are not like come in and do therapy.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger? What?
Speaker 3:comes to mind.
Speaker 3:So about seven and a few months ago seven years and a few months ago I decided to get sober, and it was life-changing for me. It has formed the work that I do. I got sober in the middle of doing this work, so I was somebody who was unwell, telling people like it's okay to be unwell, it's okay to get help, but I didn't know that for myself, and so when I was able to finally step into that for myself too, it opened up a whole new understanding and created more of a way for me to help and connect better with the community and the work that we're doing. So I'm not just somebody who went to school for this. I'm somebody who lived through it and lived through what it felt like to experience, like stigma and fear of of sharing my story, and now I get to go out and share it openly and and use it to help others, and it was life changing for me.
Speaker 2:Kim, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County.
Speaker 3:I want people to know that we are here and we are free. If you don't know where to go, if you don't know where to start, we are part, we are embedded in the community. We are here to help you get connected. We are here to help you help your loved ones. We're here to process with you if you have lost somebody to suicide, and all of it is at no cost to our community.
Speaker 2:How can our listeners learn more about Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so if you visit wwwsuicidepreventorg, you will find us and you can connect with us there.
Speaker 2:Well, kim, I really appreciate you being on our show. We wish you and your business I'm sorry, your nonprofit the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollinscom. That's gnpfortcollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.