Saving Lives One Story at a Time: The Nan Project Expands Youth Suicide Prevention Efforts

By Neil Zolot

The motto of The Nan Project is Saving Lives One Story at a Time. It reflects their approach to treating depression and preventing suicide. “We try to bring these conversations to the table,” said Jorge Patino, a Resource Coordinator for The Nan Project working with the Eliot Family Resource Center. “This is a problem that’s under the radar, but suicide is there. People don’t want to talk about it, but it’s time to and see what we can do. Collaborations can keep it from happening.”

The collaborations take the form of presentations for Middle and High School and college students and referrals to Community Behavioral Health Centers. Patino’s job can involve coordinating appearances and resources at both ends of the process. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. There is peer counselling and mentoring and workshops for community leaders and educators, among other things. People are referred to agencies for counselling about emergent thoughts of suicide and/or underlying causes leading them to contemplate suicide, such as depression, substance abuse or family or economic issues. “We are committed to creating information and support that allow young people to ask for help and reach out to one another for support,” Nan Executive Director Jake Cavanaugh explained. “Our programming includes mental health education for students, educators and their families.”

Another resource is the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is open around the clock and can be accessed by phone or text.

Patino reports the Holiday Season can be difficult. Celebrations are centered around families, and people without a family or in a difficult family situation can find themselves depressed. Many people take stock of their lives at the end of a year and, if things have been tough, it can be depressing.

The subject is inappropriate for elementary school students and language is adjusted to the age students Patino and others speak to. “We adapt our workshops to the age of the students we see,” he said. “We are very careful about how we talk to younger students.”

Nan representatives are also sometimes present at community events like education orientations for parents, job fairs and other events at the Connolly Center or Gentile Recreation Center. In 2023 television news reports by WBZ-TV in Boston and WMUR in Manchester, New Hampshire, also helped get their message out.

They also have a Facebook page and publicize Suicide Prevention Day (September 10). Their website is thenanproject.org, which includes resource links on topics such as signs of depression and suicidal intent, how to respond to suicidal behavior, coping strategies and specific resources for people of color and varying sexual orientations. Some are in Spanish as well as English.

Cavanaugh helped start The Nan Project after his sister Nancy, known as Nan, took her own life in 2012 at age 24. He and Nan both attended Hamilton-Wenham High School. After going to college in Florida and working in market research in China, he returned to Massachusetts in 2015 and now lives in Beverly.

Patino has been with Eliot since 2022. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UMass Boston and an MBA in Healthcare Management from Cambridge College. Before coming to Eliot, he worked as a sales representative for Verizon and a lab technician for the Uphams Corner Health Center, not far from UMass Boston.

He was drawn to suicide prevention, in part, from an experience in the St. Margaret and Blessed Sacrament Parishes in Saugus, where he is a Deacon. “As a person of faith this reaches me,” he said. “A child in the congregation passed away from suicide.”

He is married to Liliana Patino, Eliot’s Director of Community Engagement.

While work is being done on the old Everett High School on Broadway to house 6th and 7th grade classes, Eliot is temporarily at 1715 Broadway in Saugus, but their intention is to move back to Everett as soon as possible. “We have a team dedicated to Everett,” he said.