Words Save Lives and ME

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Wait, what is Words Save Lives?
An annual tradition in Lawrence, Kansas, USA since 2014, with the possibility of happening anywhere! Ours is always on September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day. And it can be any day in any community. It is an arts performance event featuring artists of word, dance, drag, comedy, storytelling, poetry and more. Donations are appreciated and never required. It is a space of safety, connection, compassion, and fun. Because, and you may quote me, “Without laughter we explode. And that is just not pretty!”

Performers are people with diverse identities, and with any or all of these experiences with suicide: living with suicide thoughts and/or attempts, living with suicide grief, supporting loved ones who are struggling with suicide, and/or working in a volunteer or paid capacity with people who are struggling with suicide (which could be any of us.) Performers are also people with ties to the community of that Words Save Lives.

Core Beliefs and Values of Words Save Lives:

  • Words save lives. Communication is the first step. 
  • Communication through art saves lives.
  • Living a life one is GLAD to live is the opposite of dying by suicide. “Suicide prevention” is not the ultimate goal.
  • Increasing our connections, our sense of belonging, and our sense of being valued makes life worth living.
  • Social justice makes life worth living for all.
  • Each person is the expert in their own experience.
  • We value people of all identities, experiences, and perspectives.  We hold special love and respect for those who are marginalized. And those of us with more privilege hold doors open to welcome people with less privilege to all the “stages.”
  • Many of us have multiple experiences with suicide: living with suicide grief; living with suicide thoughts and/or attempts; living with suicide grief, supporting loved one(s) who struggle with suicide; and/ or volunteer or paid or work with people who are struggling with suicide.
  • No being is summed up by one of their identities or experiences.
  • Communication through art saves lives!

The Call To Action:
Each day, let’s work on helping every person experience life with much goodness, with a sense of being valued, and a sense of belonging. With every person, especially those in oppressed groups, having access to health care, education, housing, nutrition, exercise, art and culture, employment, and fair salaries. With every person having a strong support network and the skills to balance the challenges that are part of life.

Most people are able to smile at others more often, listen more carefully, believe what a person says about how they feel, and/or perform small acts of kindness. Some of us can actively advocate for social justice, and some of us can reach large audiences, including people with the power to lead system changes. Some of us are those people with large reach. That’s what “suicide prevention” really looks like.

And also… Words Save Lives events can be in any community across the globe at any time of the year! Do it! In the ways that are right for your community! And I will be so happy to hear about what you do. Please email me at M.Epstein.LMSW@gmail.com

And if you read no more than what is above this statement, I’m still happier than I was before writing this blog.  Thank you!

So who is Marcia Epstein?
Some early influences

  • Being a beloved granddaughter of Russian Jew immigrants, who were dedicated to helping others
  • Being the daughter of a mom who taught us LOVE
  • And also … chaos  in childhood that included sexual abuse

Which contributed to

  • being able to be with people through difficult times as well as joyful times
  • extensive volunteerism in emotional support organizations, starting in high school
  • serving as a Crisis Center Volunteer Counselor, and then Director
  • eventually becoming a professional mental health social worker dedicated to collaboration, respect, caring, accessibility, and ongoing learning
  • being able to live well with suicide grief from many close ones
  • being part of an extensive circle of beloved FriendsFamily
  • and KNOWING that “Love really IS the answer.”

(For ME, Personal & Professional Experiences with Suicide)
+ (Love of Artists & Arts)
= Words Save Lives
Just before Thanksgiving 2013, I was told that my 34 years of service as Director of the free, 24/7 counseling center in Lawrence, Kansas were over. Soon after that day, the founders of a new internet community radio station (Kim Murphree, Michael Murphree, Daniel Smith, and Jay Wachs) urged me to launch a show featuring conversations about “real life.” That show became a podcast, Talk With ME. The podcast and volunteering on the Training Team of the then-new Trans Lifeline, provided new opportunities for my passions and expertise, and allowed time for healing while I developed a new circle of FriendsFamily and a social work practice focused on work with people with experiences with suicide, with grief, and with trans and nonbinary youth and adults. 

Thanks to Talk With ME, I quickly recognized that I had a special connection with poets and other artists, and their powerful communication through art. These international artists of word and other media had many personal experiences and values in common with my favorite people in the international “suicide prevention” community where I had “lived” for so long.  And during Talk With ME conversations, many artists spontaneously said things like “creating my art saved my life.” 

Connections with Topeka-Lawrence-KC area poets, including the Red Tail Collective in Lawrence, grew and allowed me to use my organizing skills to help bring those poets to several stages in Lawrence, Kansas during 2014: the Voice of Lawrence Poetry Slam, poetry and arts for young children at the July 4th Community Festival, the first Poetry Alley (which also featured art activities for young children) at the annual Lawrence Busker Festival, and on September 10,  World Suicide Prevention Day, the first annual Words Save Lives. 

Words Save Lives started with Poets and some musical accompaniment. Through the years the arts and the geographic area where our audience and performers come from have expanded, We have had belly dance, and other dance, drag, aerial acrobatics, music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, and in 2023 we have “live painting.” 

2022 was the 9th year of Words Save Lives.  In 2022, the expansion to 11 communities across the state of Kansas and hopefully to other states and countries began. I thank 2019-2022 Kansas Poet Laureate Huascar Medina and the Academy of American Poets for launching this expansion.

2023 is the Tenth Annual Words Save Lives in Lawrence, Kansas, USA! And we added some fabulous extras:

  • We are encouraging donations for unhoused people living in Lawrence.
  • Even closer collaboration with the artists of BLACK Lawrence
  • Jancy Pettit, Spirit of Art, “live painting” the essence of the event. 
  • Poet-Professor-AndMuchMore Dennis Etzel, Jr. is providing an intro to his workshop on creating personal rituals for writing.
  • Sharing a potluck meal together
  • Words Save Lives, Part 2, Open Mic for Poetry, Storytelling, and Music on September 26, 2023 during the monthly Cicada Open Mic, hosted by accordionist Andy Connolly

Respect and Gratitude:
Words Save Lives has grown into a place that creates and strengthens connections, that reminds us that we are valued. A place with all the love and laughter and NO shame. Because We The People, in all our Beauty, need our Experiences represented by Artists of Poetry, Comedy, Story, Music, Drag, and more! At Words Save Lives we celebrate being together. We celebrate living lives with so much love and goodness that we are able to get through the hardships. We communicate about all that, not just about our experiences with suicide. And we recognize that so many, too many, have more than one of the experiences with suicide.

Words Save Lives really is about LOVE. Love that is shared within the group of diverse people together in a special space  at a special time. Even during the COVID Pandemic when we missed being together in-person, and still we were happy that technology allowed us to be together. Love between all the people in all the roles: listening, watching, sharing, hugging, performing, talking, drawing ….

I am so grateful to each person who has supported Words Save Lives events over the years. I hold special appreciation for those who contributed so much energy and love:

  • Poets of the Red Tail Collective in 2014: Megan McHenry, Jessica Elise, David Douglas, Dustin Baxter, Anna Michener, Mark Hennessy, Erica Hunter, Maxine Asbury, Garret Tufte, and Topher Enneking
  • Co-Planners with me for WSL’s include: Poet Annette Billings, Poet Ande Johnson, Poet Cei Loofe, 2019-2022 Kansas Poet Laureate Huascar Medina, Writer-Poet Ronda Miller, and Musician-StoryTeller Stephen Smith
  • An anonymous donor
  • Lawrence, KS Location Hosts: David & Nancy Longhurst of The Oread Inn & The Eldridge Hotel; Eric Kirkendall and then Stephen Smith of Lawrence Creates Makerspace
  • So Many Beautiful-In-All-The-Ways Performers (noted on each year’s event page)
  • And Audience Members

#WordsSaveLives
#SocialJusticeIsSuicidePrevention
#LoveWins
~ Marcia Epstein, LMSW
2023-08-29

Marcia Epstein, LMSW is a long-time member of the USA-and-beyond “suicide prevention” community. Her special areas: grief, including suicide grief; reducing suicide risk; and support for trans and nonbinary youth and adults.  Her home is Lawrence, Kansas, USA where she served as a volunteer, then as Director for 34 years, of Headquarters Counseling Center, now known as KSPHQ, which serves Kansas on 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.  Her current social work practice is rooted in compassion, expertise, experiences, accessibility, and collaboration. Through individual and “family” work, support groups, retreats, and special events, she helps people learn the skills for thriving. Her support groups: Healing After Suicide, for survivors of suicide loss; Stayin’ Alive, for people living with suicide thoughts, self-harm, and attempts; and Thriving Family-Friends, for family-friends of suicidal loved ones. Marcia serves on the Steering Committee for NAMI Douglas County, Kansas. She is part of a grief support team with Robin Goff, founder of The Light Center. Since September 2021, she has been very active in two international movements: Coalition of Clinician Survivors, for professional mental health caregivers with personal and/or professional experiences with suicide loss;
and PAUSE, People Addressing and Understanding Suicide Experiences. 
She also provides training and consultation. And she hosts a podcast and events at
“The Intersection of Art and Emotional Wellbeing.” 

For more, see https://MarciaEpstein.biz