Hi, my name is Dennis Gillan and I am a national thought leader on the topic of suicide prevention and mental health advocacy. Unfortunately, I’ve been deeply touched by suicide after the loss of both of my brothers to suicide, eleven years apart. I have worked on the suicide prevention hotline, I am an author, and a TEDx speaker, but my real calling is helping to improve mental health by promoting real conversations. I am the executive director of a non-profit called the Half a Sorrow Foundation. My keynote talks definitely promotes real conversations, and I combine my losses with real-world solutions and even some laughter. I'm also a lifelong member of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity.

Experience

· Suicide Prevention is my life and I’ve been speaking on this topic for over a dozen years.
· Trained in Question—Persuade—Refer (QPR), SafeTalk, ASIST and several other suicide prevention programs.
· Worked at South Carolina Department of Mental Health on suicide prevention grants.
· Volunteered at the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
· Was on the board of the South Carolina chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
· Volunteered with NAMI to do crisis intervention training.
· Well known advocate in this field.
· Facilitates a monthly survivor of suicide loss meeting.
· Regional Advisor for Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity.

In this talk, Dennis will take the audience on a journey as he details how he handled the two losses to suicide in his life. He didn’t handle the first loss well trying to cope with drugs and alcohol, and he settled in on sobriety and therapy to help him cope with the second loss. Dennis doesn’t dwell on his personal losses as he quickly pivots to take on the stigma surrounding mental health. He takes the time to review the resources available to the audience he is speaking to and guides the audience on where to seek proper help on campus.

Dennis uses real-life examples from his life to help the audience understand the risk factors associated with mental health and some of the warning signs that a person may be in serious danger. Dennis is well versed in the statistics surrounding suicide, but he chooses to use a story-telling format to get his point across that love is worth living. He shows up early and stays late, as many in the audience want to share their struggles and successes with Dennis long after he is done speaking. The audience will definitely walk away with a thorough knowledge of the risk factors, warning signs, and positive coping skills needed to get through this thing called life and be ready to help themselves and others with their mental health.

Learning Objectives:

- We will kick the stigma of mental health to the curb together.
- We will hit on the role of alcohol and substances on one’s mental health.
- We will review local and national resources that can truly help the audience.
- We will dispense a big dose of hope while learning to step in before someone steps out.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in persons aged 15–24. To combat this, we need to go upstream and get very comfortable talking about our mental health. In this talk, Dennis will affirm to the audience that many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function. Our goal is to identify these signs early and develop a strategy to improve one’s mental health.

Dennis is a firm believer that your mental health is just as important as your physical health and both need to be worked out from time to time. In this talk we will review both positive and negative coping skills regarding mental health and where to seek help when needed.

Learning objectives:
- Destigmatize the ENTIRE conversation surrounding mental health.
- Develop personal safety plans to keep one safe.
- Review positive coping skills like the Purple Folder and the Camo Hat Club.
- Develop real life strategies on how to keep the topic of mental health top of mind!

Did you know that 80% of all suicides are men? In this talk Dennis comes at men in a way that only a man can---right at them. In this talk, Dennis will review some of the dudes he has met after he started talking about losing two brothers to suicide. You will hear about a young man who tried just about every therapy known to man to help him battle his depression and won, and we will hear a story of how a couple of alert men saved other men from harm. We discuss the need for positive coping skills, and even review personal safety plans to help keep our mental health from exacerbating.

Geared towards men’s groups on campus, this program meets men where they are and hits on substance use, means reduction, and how to be an alert brother when needed.