MILWAUKEE— The Milwaukee County Behavioral Health division is painting the town red to raise awareness of substance abuse and suicide this month.

It’s the fifth year Milwaukee County is hosting Light and Unite Red, a campaign to raise awareness for substance abuse. But this year it’s also being combined with suicide prevention, at a crucial time.

“We’ve seen a 54 percent increase in drug overdoses as well as an 80 percent increase in suicide attempts during this time. August was a month that saw 300 percent increase [in] deaths by suicide during this time. So this is a great opportunity for us to come together as a community and support one another,” behavioral health emergency services clinician, Andrea Nauer-Waldschmidt says.

With extra stress added on top of this year with COVID-19, turning the city red to raise awareness and host a handful of virtual events was a no brainer for this group.

“We have this great opportunity to continue to reach out and create prevention efforts for both substance use and mental health awareness and this is a great opportunity to let them know about the crisis line that is available 24/7, let them know about Light and Unite Red. Let them know that we have hundreds of providers in Milwaukee County that we link with to provide services to the individuals in our community,” Nauer-Waldschmidt says.

The campaign will be going on all month, hosting virtual events all throughout this week and this month to share resources with the community and raise awareness of present issues within the county.

“We are hopeful that when parents drive through the city and when they see these buildings red they will turn to their kids and begin to have those meaningful conversations about what it means to have lived a drug and alcohol-free life,” Milwaukee County prevention coordinator, Nzinga Khalid says.

Taking the chance to make a change by lighting up the city and educating the community.

For more information on upcoming virtual events, click here.

For resources from the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, click here.

Call the 24/7 Crisis Hotline at 414-257-7222​.