Community Highlights: Meet Erin Ivie of SpeakUp ReachOut

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Ivie.

Hi Erin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in the Eagle River Valley of Colorado. In 2007, I lost my best friend, Luke, to suicide. In the years surrounding his death, Eagle County saw a number of deaths by suicide that also happened to be people I knew. In 2012, I started with SpeakUp ReachOut, the suicide prevention coalition of Eagle County, as a board member. It quickly became apparent to me that I wanted to do the work to help those that had lost a loved one to suicide and help bring awareness to suicide prevention in our community. In 2014, I became the part-time Executive Director for SpeakUp ReachOut. Now, seven years later, I am proud to say that we have grown the organization to 4 full-time staff members, including myself and our impact and reach has never been greater.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Along the way, we have lost additional members of our community to suicide and for me, that just continues to light a fire to continue the work that I do. Suicide prevention is not ‘sexy’ and it has been a struggle to get people to get involved as there is such a stigma associated with the topic. However, in Eagle County, we are well on our way to changing the narrative around behavioral health and suicide. It is a conversation that is happening more regularly and we hope to continue in this direction.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
SpeakUp ReachOut is the suicide prevention coalition of Eagle County. Our mission is to prevent suicide through training, awareness and hope. We offer suicide awareness, prevention and postvention services to the community. I am so proud to have grown the organization over the last seven years from one very part-time executive director to four full-time staff that have a reach larger than I could have ever imagined. SpeakUp ReachOut is here to save lives and we work very closely with many behavioral health partners in our community to reach our goals.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the Colorado Crisis Services at 844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
It takes time. So many times, we see the flourishing organization and think that it all just happened overnight. The reality is that it takes time, patience and perseverance to realize your dream.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@speakupreachout.org
• Website: www.speakupreachout.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpReachOutEagleCounty

Image Credits
Wendy Griffith Photography on some of the photos. Other credit to SURO Staff.