What sets Manny’s Band Foundation apart:

Beyond Awareness: It’s one thing to be “aware” of a problem, it’s an entirely different thing to accept that the problem could affect you personally and to be prepared to take action in your own life with your own family. Most of us are “aware” that there is a mental health crisis among teenagers and may have even participated in an “awareness event”. Such efforts are essential; however, awareness alone often fails to capture the attention and translate into action at the individual personal level between family and friends who still believe suicide is “not my problem”. 

Why It Matters:

• Suicide is a leading cause of death among young people.
• Much suicide prevention focuses on “awareness” (brining knowledge about the existence of a problem) and “resources” (medical, therapeutic, and other measures to assist youth with suicide ideology). 
• Both awareness and resources are essential components of suicide prevention.
• However, a bridge between awareness on one side and resources on the other is largely missing.
• The teen suffering suicide idiation too often keeps their pain to themselves and does not seek help.
• When a teen experiences suicidal idiation, it may take a trusted adult or friend to connect the individual in pain to the resources that can potentially save a life.
• Yet the victim’s trusted adults, friends, and other support structures too often “don’t see it” or do not know what to do to help. 
• Most potential trusted adults are not paying attention to what may be right in front of them.  
• Or even if they detect something unusual, most potential trusted adults have never received training on what they are actually supposed to do.
• They may be “aware of statistics and a national problem out there” but falsely comfort themselves in the erroneous belief that “suicide is not my problem.”  
• If you miss it – there is not going back to fix it –
  DON’T MISS IT!

Our Approach:
We inspire action at scale through large events like The Manny’s Band Concert®, Mic Check: A Manny’s Band Talk ® and other educational and awareness events in conjunction with partners and community institutions.

Then we go beyond mere awareness of the problem. We move attendees from the large scale events into small friendship based group QPR training sessions in homes where a circle of friends learn new skills and practices using them.

Each Manny’s Band Practice ends with an ask for two participants to play it forward and host the next practice session – and so on – exponentially growing the number of skilled and practiced trusted adults and friends until a tipping point is reached within a community – eradicating the stigma and changing the dialogue regarding suicide and mental health within a community.