After his oldest son, Joshua, committed suicide at 17, Ron Pappalardo set out on a mission to help others avoid having his experience. Pappalardo will speak at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 21, in the Study Learning Center's Sherbine Lounge at Penn State Worthington Scranton.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death overall among young people, and the second leading cause of death among college students. As part of his efforts to help prevent others from losing loved ones to suicide, Pappalardo has written a book that has helped thousands deal with suicide and its effects, and now travels the country conducting talks and seminars to give valuable information to college students, teachers, counselors and others, that they need to combat suicide.
According to Pappalardo, students need to know that suicide is preventable and they also need to know how to identify the warning signs and what to do about it. They need to know that there are things they can do today to decrease the likelihood of suicide happening in the future.
Pappalardo's presentation is free and open to both the campus community, school counselors and those who work with teens and high school and college students, as well as the general public. For more information, call Jill Thoman at 570-963-2681.
To learn more about Pappalardo, visit his website at ronpappalardo.com online.