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Michigan’s largest and widely respected symposium directly focusing on suicide — the Kevin’s Song 10th Annual Suicide Prevention Education Summit, The Power of 10: A Legacy of Hope • A Future of Possibility, returns January 22 – 23, 2026 to the St. John’s Resort located at 44045 Five Mile Rd. in Plymouth, Michigan.

This year, the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan (CMHA) is proud to join Kevin’s Song as a partner in the 2026 Kevin’s Song Education Summit.

2026 DETAILED EVENT INFORMATION

Kevin’s Song and representatives from community mental health organizations around the state have worked together to offer a variety of sessions that will enable clinicians and mental health advocates to better serve communities and individuals in crisis and at risk for suicidal ideation.

This diverse and comprehensive Summit program has been designed to assist and educate Mental Health Clinicians, Educators, Human Resource Professionals, Veterans, First Responders, Loss and Attempt Survivors and members of the community.

THURSDAY PRESENTATIONS:

Promoting Healthy Social Connections and Support for Youth
Social Medial Addiction
Affirming Lives for Suicide Prevention in the LGBTQIA Youth
Supporting Families Through Adolescent Suicide Risk
How Employers Can Support Their Employees
Connecting Inpatient Psychiatry and Schools to Support Youth Recovery
Culturally Responsive Approaches to Suicide Prevention
Collaborative Strategies for Suicide Prevention in Michigan
Understanding Adolescent Brain Development and Suicidal Risk
The Overlooked Link between Food, Feelings and Healing
Toolkit Tips on How to Support an Adolescent after a Suicide Attempt
Cultural Responsivity – Tools to Support Youth in Crisis
The Effect of Adolescent Drug Use on Mental Health and Suicidology
EAPs as Lifelines – Reducing Trauma and Suicide Risk for Healthcare Employees
Advancing mental Health Access in Michigan Community Colleges
Best Practices for Suicide Prevention in Schools

FRIDAY PRESENTATIONS:

Extreme Risk Protection Orders in Michigan
The Counselor’s Role in Safety Planning
Conducting and Utilizing Risk Assessments to Improve Patient Care
Aging, Dementia and Suicide Risk
Extreme Risk Protection Orders – Tutorial
Grieving Out Loud
New Generation Treatments to Prevent Suicide
The State of Community Mental Health in Michigan
The Path Beyond the Crisis
AI and Suicide Prevention
Culturally Tailored Approaches top Suicide Prevention in Rural Communities
Preparing the Pathway to Healing for the Bereaved and the Professional
Integrating Zero Suicide in CCBHCs
Lethal Means Counseling
Applying Dynamic Systems Approaches to Identify Short Teem Risk for Suicidal Behavior
Progress in Suicide Research and Prevention: What’s on the Horizon

This is your chance to obtain valuable, evidence based strategies for your school, your business, your healthcare practice, your healthcare system, your community or your family to address the increasing incidents of suicide and self-harm to individuals at risk including African American youth, working aged men, veterans, seniors and members of the LGBTQIA community.

Drawing on its rich history of education about suicide and prevention, this 10th annual summit will offer practical and effective tools and treatments aimed at assisting at-risk individuals and communities. The summit will also provide support for survivors of suicide loss and those with a lived experience of suicide.

Every year, Kevin’s Song endeavors to provide more education to clinicians, business leaders, HR professionals, suicide prevention advocates, teachers, and school counselors and to people directly impacted by suicide loss. This is why Kevin’s Song has taken a lead in Michigan for the past 10 years, with its annual educational summit to SAVE LIVES.

Our new 2025 Ambassador Video

Our Mission: Saving lives through suicide prevention education and offering hope and healing to survivors.

We founded Kevin’s Song in 2013, as a 501-c-3 non-profit, to honor our son, Kevin, who lost his life to suicide when he was just forty-one.

Proudly, Kevin’s Song has grown into a recognized resource so that individuals and communities can come together to learn about the latest research share their experiences and network with others who care about suicide awareness and prevention. Please join us so that we can make our vision of a world without suicide a reality…..Gail & John Urso

The Lifeline and 988

988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), and is now active across the United States.

When people call, text, or chat 988, they will be connected to trained counselors that are part of the existing Lifeline network. These trained counselors will listen, understand how their problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources if necessary. Read More Here

“SUICIDE – THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD of ALL DEATHS” by Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser

When a suicide occurs, we aren’t just left with the loss of a person, we’re also left with a legacy of anger, second guessing and fearful anxiety.

To read this important article, please click here.

Coping with Suicide Grief Handbook

This is a handbook, published by the American Association of Suicidology, is for people who have lost a loved one to suicide, written by someone who has suffered the same loss.

To read or download this important handbook, please click here.

Additional Information

Please Listen… Students Talk About Mental Health and Suicide Awareness

Rates of suicide continue to rise across the demographic spectrum and certainly among school-age youth. For years, suicide and mental health issues were subjects to be avoided, hidden behind a veil of stigma or fear. Now, hopefully we know differently. But in our conversations, are we really hearing what students have to say about anxiety, depression, mental health or the pain their friends and peers are feeling. What do they want from teachers, parents and the others in their lives?

As part of the national Well Beings Tour, Detroit Public TV is teaming with Kevin’s Song and other local organizations to create a virtual conversation addressing their vital, often life-saving issues. We will listen to a diverse group of students who will talk about their lives, their feelings and their concerns. And we will respond.

Book of The Month

Self-Care for Grief

By Nneka M. Okona

Self-Care for Grief - 100 practices for healing during times of loss by Nneka M Okona

Process your grief, protect your mental health, and find moments of happiness with these 100 self-care activities specifically designed for difficult and distressing situations.

When faced with loss or trauma, the grief can oftentimes feel overwhelming. It can feel difficult, if not impossible, to focus your attention elsewhere. And yet, during hard times is the perfect time to look inwards for support and practice self-care. Tuning in to your personal needs and taking the time to create a thoughtful self-care practice can make all the difference in moving forward in a healthy way.

In Self-Care for Grief, you’ll find 100 self-care activities that are specifically designed to help you protect your mental health, even while grieving.

You’ll find useful activities like:

Cooking to honor your loss
Practicing saying “No”
Naming your emotions
And many more

No matter what the circumstances are, Self-Care for Grief has the activities you need to de-stress, stay calm, and even find moments of joy in the most challenging of times.

Order Book Now Library

Kevin's Song Newsletters

Our Newsletter is published and emailed monthly to our growing list of sponsors, supporters and friends. If you’d like to be added to our email list, contact gail@kevinssong.org. If we hope to achieve our vision of “a world without suicide” we need you with us.

View current edition

View past editions

Resources for Ideas and Inspiration:

“We Need to Talk” is a 30-minute film produced by Kevin’s Song and funded by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Klingler Family Foundation. The film documents effective suicide prevention initiatives being used in schools and communities. Profiled in this video are the Prepare-U curriculum at West Bloomfield High School, The U-Matter teen program developed by Rabbi Yarden Blumstein for Friendship Circle, the University of Michigan’s Peer-To-Peer school outreach program and The SHED, an after-school facility for youth recently opened by Dennis Liegghio, founder of Know Resolve.

View Video

“Saving Lives, Preventing Youth Suicide”

Conceived by Kevin’s Song and sponsored by the Children’s Foundation, this 3-part series was produced in partnership with Detroit Public Television. Hosted by prominent Michigan journalist, Cynthia Canty each 60-minute program includes interviews with mental health professionals, educators and community leaders and covers topics ranging from the impact of social media on youth to building resilience to successful intervention strategies.

View Programs

Videos

“Singing Kevin’s Song” Interviews with a high school counsellor, a former collegiate athlete, a researcher, and the parents of a high school student lost to suicide reveal their personal and painful insights into dealing with the suicide epidemic. Produced by James McGovern. (28 minutes)

Click here to view

“Death is Not the Answer”. Award winning producer-director Keith Famie tackles the tough issues of understanding depression and mental illness. (58 minutes).

Click here to view

“The S Word”. The stigma that so often prevents honest discussion, and often times death, is the subject of this compelling documentary by Lisa Klein. (98 minutes)

Click here to view

Podcasts

“Life After Suicide”- Dr. Jennifer Ashton. Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News’ Chief Medical Correspondent, draws from her own tragic experience to explore the aftermath of suicide and sudden loss, and, like her new book “Life After Suicide,” the podcast offers a six-part roadmap for survivors.