Watch Empty Seat, A Powerful PSA, Especially Now, During National Suicide Prevention Week

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Creative Film Conveys Strong Message

By Ellen Kinsella

Don't let there be another empty seat.  That is the powerful and moving message of Empty Seat, a Public Service Announcement (PSA) film created in response to the community's concern about increased teen suicide locally, and in the county overall, beginning in 2007.  There has never been a better time to watch and share the message of this PSA, now during National Suicide Prevention Week.

A group of community volunteers and parents, led and directed by the creative voice of local filmmaker Dan Gvozden, and featuring the talents of local Anne Arundel County teenagers, created the PSA.  The Building Life Project is now housing Empty Seat.  Building Life, formerly Winds of Hope, Winds of Healing, a collaborative effort of community volunteers and parents, is working towards prevention, not just intervention, regarding teen suicide, and is working to host resources of awareness like the PSA.  An endorsement from the national organization SAVE, (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) will allow the PSA to be utilized in a number of different settings including educational seminars sponsored by SAVE.  Empty Seat will be included in the spring national conference of AAPC, The American Association of Pastoral Counselors in Virginia next April, where it will be used to help educate counselors and therapists about the problem and offer curriculum to supplement the PSA.

Nancy Lincoln Reynolds is currently the acting director of Building Life and is recruiting community volunteers to join this very important effort.  “It is much easier to raise awareness of suicide than it is to prevent it," explained Lincoln-Reynolds.


About Dan Gvozden and the Making of the PSA

Dan Gvozden, Severna Park High School alumnus and NYU Tisch Film School graduate, was the perfect choice to create a public service announcement about suicide awareness.  Energetic, creative, and big-hearted, the then-22-year-old moved back from New York to Severna Park to work on this project.  Concerned by the rise in suicide among local youth, the subject hit home for Dan, who had known some of the victims of recent suicides. “I wanted to do something to help,” explained Dan, noting, “Most PSAs are dry and don’t connect to teenagers – they need emotion.” Dan’s message in his PSA titled Empty Seat: “There’s still time, there’s still hope,” conjures not only concern about suicide, but conveys the necessity to speak up if friends or family sense someone is at risk.

Empty Seat is a series of vignettes, featuring everyday settings such as a gymnasium and an art classroom, set to music.  In each scene, the camera focuses on an “empty seat,” which is later filled.  The upbeat message conveyed is one of connectedness.  The last third of the film focuses on how to recognize warning signs, as well as how to respond when a friend or loved one seems at risk.  Contact phone numbers appear, reminding viewers that failure to take action can have serious consequences.  To those concerned about butting in on someone's personal business, the message is loud and clear: "It's better to lose a friendship than to lose a friend."

Dan recruited colleagues from New York and friends from Anne Arundel County to serve as his staff during the making of the PSA, which took many long months and has had numerous revisions.  Local teens and community members comprised the PSA cast.  Dan was able to borrow professional film equipment from a local company, and volunteers donated meals and snacks for everyone during the filming process.  Manhattan Beach Club, Severn School, and Severna Park High School offered locations to film, and most involved with the project were more than cooperative.

Please watch the PSA here, and share it with your family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT8lw1Rl-WM.


Take Part in National Suicide Prevention Week, September 4–10


National Suicide Prevention Week runs from September 4-10, 2011.  It culminates with World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10.  Here are five ways to get involved, raise awareness about this public health problem and help save lives:

  1. Take a moment to learn about suicide risk factors and warning signs. To further spread awareness, share this article by posting it to your social media accounts.
  2. Make a $10 donation to suicide prevention by texting “AFSP” to #85944.
  3. Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's (AFSP) Field Advocate Program and work with the Foundation to make suicide prevention a national priority.  Click here to sign up to be an advocate.
  4. If you have lost a loved one to suicide, please know you are not alone.  For resources visit www.afsp.org/survivingsuicideloss. International Survivors of Suicide Day is November 19.  There will be nearly 300 healing conferences around the world.  To find a conference site near you or the watch the program online, visit www.afsp.org/survivorday.
  5. Register for the Annapolis Out of the Darkness Community Walk, which is on Saturday, September 10.  Click here for more information or visit OutOfTheDarkness.org.  AFSP will be holding more than 250 community walks across the country to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention.




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