Let’s get down to business.

The Skylar Foundation started as an idea 9 years ago after my world was blown apart by losing my cousin and then a month later, my son to suicide. Eight years before their passing, my children’s father died by suicide, and seven years before that, I lost my uncle to suicide. Each of these losses impacted the way I thought about mental health and addiction; they were so devastating in their own ways. Then, when I lost Skylar, I knew I needed to do something. Something to keep him from being a statistic.

I volunteered to participate in a survey with the coroner’s office on teen suicides. Speaking with the person giving me the survey, I learned many things about the rates of suicide among young people. That it was, the number one (most recent statistics have it at the second) leading cause of death for people between 10 and 44. Utah consistently has rates of suicide higher than the national average. So I started doing some research on my own about the mental health system in Utah. Although things have improved in the last nine years, mostly in the area of crisis response, Utah still has a mental health system that is often confusing, costly, and wait times to see a professional are double the recommended times.

I participated in my first “Out of the Darkness” walk. We had a team, we had T-shirts, and our team was walking for my son and my cousin. Friends and family all walked together; it was inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. The number of people walking for their people, the pictures on shirts, the posters, people’s necks piled with beads, each color representing a person. I was so overwhelmed by all of it. I was also determined, determined that I was going to do something to help.

Here we are, I did it. I started a non-profit that bears my son's name. I have a dedicated board of directors who all have a story. Together, we are trying to join the somewhat disjointed mental health system in Utah. We are doing research, finding the gaps, making connections, collaborating with community partners, obtaining training, and getting educational materials. For information on our full business plan, please go to our page “Utah Together; Supporting Youth Mental Health.”

If you have made it this far, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I appreciate you visiting our website. Before you leave, please consider making a donation or filling out a form to volunteer. Our foundation depends on our supporters, whether that is monetarily or by giving of your time. Please join us in our efforts to save lives, together as a community, for the sake of our youth.