Warren hosts annual suicide awareness walk

WARREN — Catherine Grizinski, associate director and chief clinical officer of the Help Hotline of Youngstown, said it’s OK for survivors of suicide to scream and cry “and be frustrated by our emotions.”

The loss of a loved one to suicide can bring about “so many emotions,” she said.

Sally Cully of Boardman can identify with that, she said Saturday afternoon on Courthouse Square in downtown Warren, where about 20 people gathered for the 7th annual Survivors of Suicide Awareness Walk.

“It helps me if I talk to him every day like he’s still here,” Cully said of her son, Louie DePizzo, who died Jan. 3, 2012.

Sometimes she talks to him because she’s angry with him, but she also kisses his photo every day, she said.

“We have to remember the sadness, but also the joy they brought to us,” Grizinski said.

Help Hotline was one of several organizations that organized the walk. The participants stopped at each of the four corners of the square to share information and stories with each other.