Turning Tragedy into Advocacy: Leslie Weirich's Journey in Suicide Prevention-Ep 27

On today’s episode we are joined by Leslie Weirich. Leslie Weirich has been speaking on the topic of Suicide Prevention for the past seven years.

She often says, “She didn’t choose this work, but this work chose her.” At 2:30 in the morning on September 10th, 2016, (which happens to be World Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day), Leslie woke to the news that her 20-year-old son Austin had taken his life.

In 2017, Leslie began speaking on suicide prevention within her own community. Then in 2018, her story took a turn and made national news as a human-interest sports story which launched her public speaking career.

In 2020, she resigned from her full-time job as a Financial Recruiter to begin speaking all over the nation. She focuses on youth mental health with an emphasis on young men, student athletes and the military.

In January of 2021, she partnered with Oaklawn Community Mental Health Center in northern, Indiana. As the first Suicide Prevention Specialist where she helped raise over 100K to put The Sources of Strength Suicide Prevention Program in local high schools in her community.

Over the past three years she has been speaking on Army bases all over the country and this past September presented her talk to The Pentagon and West Point Military Academy where she received a standing ovation from 4,500 cadets. In January, she was picked up by the Navy and presented two keynote talks.

Leslie is certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid, QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer), ASIST (Applied Skills in Suicide Training) and SafeTALK (Suicide Alertness for Everyone) and is also an Inspiring Comfort Certified Trainer.

Her first keynote talk broke a five-year fundraising record for the largest non-profit in the state of Indiana and raised over 249K to put licensed clinical therapists in local schools.

She was raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana and studied Journalism at Indiana University. Her career spans over 30 years in sales and marketing. However, she believes her greatest accomplishment is her work in raising awareness and saving young lives through her public speaking program called LesliesHope.

In 2016, her family established the Austin Weirich Memorial Scholarship Fund and has given away over 24K in college scholarships. She hosts an annual 5K every September to raise money for the fund which has now been fully invested in the Community Foundation of Elkhart County where all donations are matched at 25%.

Her first book, “The Gifts of Grief” came out on her son’s birthday in January and she is now speaking throughout the nation on post-traumatic growth.

In this episode we discuss:

-Leslie’s son’s suicide

-Men’s mental health

-Factor’s that negatively and positively effect our mental health

-And so much more.

This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

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How to connect with Leslie:

LinkedIn: Leslie Weirich

Website: leslieshope.org

How to connect with Matt:

Instagram: mattfindora