The Purple Note Project is an outreach program by the Say His Name Foundation that was developed as a resource for suicide prevention.
The project provides handwritten letters to give emotional support to anyone affected by suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide loss.
“Most of these people are not going to reach out. They know they’re not alone,” said Michele Holley, founder of the Say His Name Foundation. “It’s just that hard for people to verbalize.”
The foundation makes emotional support accessible to people who may not have reached out on their own. The thought of directly speaking with someone about their struggles is often a barrier for people. The foundation gives an opportunity where directly speaking to another person isn’t needed.
After her son died by suicide, Holley wanted to reach out and do something proactive to help people who were struggling.
“Mental health and suicide awareness is really, really important, but I feel what’s more important is to actually do something like outreach, where we can reach out to the people that cannot reach out to us,” Holley said.
The Say His Name Foundation honors Sgt. Dylan Holley who took his life Sept. 17, 2023. He had served for 10 years in the U.S. military, serving both in the Marine Corps and the Army.
“He’s an amazing person. Everyone liked him. He stood up for people,” Holley said. “He stood up for what he believed in, even if it wasn’t popular. Always encouraging, always positive, always had a smile on his face.”
The foundation offers three different handwritten-letter programs that has a focus on emotional support, community outreach and suicide intervention. These programs are called the Purple Note Project, Bundles of Hope and the Letter Connection.
When someone requests a letter, they go through a screening process to determine if they are at risk for suicide. If they are, then they have the option to join the Purple Note Project, which provides long-term support for people who meet the criteria. If they are not at risk, then they will receive a letter from the Letter Connection, which is a letter specific to their issue regardless of whether it pertains to suicide.
The Bundles of Hope program provides emotional support for special populations who are at risk for loneliness and isolation, which may be foster children or the elderly. This program works with community partners who can host meetups for people wanting to write letters.
The Purple Note Project is structured to provide long-term emotional support on a consistent timeline. It sends 25 letters at varying intervals over the course of 12 months.
Grace Claspill, junior psychology major, expresses the importance of mental health.
“Your mental health really defines everything that you do,” Claspill said. “Taking care of and prioritizing me helps me just get along with myself better and get through my day.”
The Purple Note Project was modeled after a research study by a psychiatrist named Jerome Motto. In the 1970s, Motto developed the “Caring Letters” intervention, which reduced suicide rates about 50-65%. Holley chose the handwritten approach for the foundation because of the success rates that Motto had.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has done studies relating to the “Caring Letters” intervention, but it’s not implemented across the board.
While the project supports all who may be struggling, it was inspired by a veteran.
“When we start working with veterans more, we’re going to be seeing that PTSD stuff coming up more and more,” Holley said.
Washburn University is a Purple Heart University for its service to veterans over the years and the resources available including the Military-Student Success Center.
“There was a period in their life where they experienced the trauma and a lot of times it’s the anniversary of that trauma, then it comes back up,” said Chris Bowers, military transitions coordinator.
Military students at Washburn have an additional resource of the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership program which is a partnership with the Topeka Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“Washburn has done a really good job, not just taking care of student veterans, but students as a whole when it comes to mental health issues,” Bowers said.
While many people believe that they could’ve stopped a suicide, Holley expressed her thoughts.
“I want people to know that you need to stop beating yourself up over not knowing that this was going to happen, or not knowing what you could do to help this person. They didn’t want you to know,” Holley said.
Holley expressed that almost half of all suicides are impulsive acts that occur within 10 minutes of making the decision. When that moment comes, there is very little that others can do.
Because many suicides cannot be stopped, Holley believes intervention needs to happen early. As soon as someone starts feeling hopeless or alone, the Purple Note Project can step in and give them the support they need before it turns into suicidal thoughts.
There are many resources for people who are struggling such as Washburn’s Counseling Services, Washburn’s Psychological Services Clinic, the Trevor Project, the 988 hotline, Crisis Text and many more including a Veterans Crisis Line.
Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford
