Pleasantville High School student Jack Gorsuch spoke at last year’s Break the Hold’s Into the Light Walk. Gorsuch was inspired to join the walk, which helps the foundation raise awareness on mental health issues while he was struggling in middle school. This year’s walk is on Sunday starting at 4:30 a.m. in Pleasantville.
Last week in the Pleasantville Presbyterian Church work room there was the soft rustling of sand funneled into small bags by Susi Wilson’s Pleasantville High School special education students. The bags will hold lights to illuminate a dark corridor at Parkway Field for Break the Hold’s eighth annual Into the Light Walk that starts at 4:30 a.m. this Sunday, June 14.
Wilson’s students also placed batteries in candle-shaped lights to be held by the more than 500 walkers expected for the early morning trek.
A longtime educator, Wilson said her students take pride in contributing to Break the Hold.
“They know their work shows how anybody can give back,” Wilson said. “Some of my higher functioning students help distribute BTH flyers and lawn signs.”
Wilson’s very personal connection to Break the Hold is her long friendship with the organization’s founders Jolina and Brian Halloran. The couple started the annual walk in 2018, after their 19-year-old son, Brian, died by suicide.
“My son is best friends with Brian’s younger son and we were there from the beginning,” Wilson recalled. “I was there for the very first walk. It was very surreal and emotionally raw for all of us, but we felt the presence of the community’s strength in coming together and feeling hope.”
Wilson was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award last year, an honor bestowed to individuals who “have made an extraordinary impact on the community and youth.”
Supporting mental health programs
Break the Hold supports education programs that raise awareness about mental health issues to reduce teen suicide. The nonprofit organization operates under the umbrella of the Mental Health Association of Westchester and has introduced a mental health curriculum to some area schools. The program is known as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is taught in grades 5-9 in Pleasantville, to sixth- and eighth-graders in the Elmsford Union Free School Districts, to sixth-graders in the Scarsdale Public Schools and to students in grades 4-8 at the Mount Pleasant Blythedale School.
The Into the Light Walk and the BTH Winter Gala support the DBT programs. The organization’s annual funding goal is about $75,000.
One of Wilson’s classroom aides, Justin Perlman, a 2019 Pleasantville High School graduate, volunteered to help her class set up for the walk. Perlman said he found Break the Hold extremely helpful while going through his own difficulties.
“I’m incredibly grateful for everything the BTH foundation and the Halloran family have done for me, our community and mental health awareness,” Perlman said. “They have always been supportive, open and willing to have honest conversations about mental health. They have helped break the stigma around talking about it and continue to step up as a strong support for the youth in this community. They do so much for me, my friends and the community I love, and every year I look forward to coming together for the walk.”
One of Susi Wilson’s students at Pleasantville High School puts batteries into candle-shaped lights that more than 500 expected walkers will hold during this Sunday morning’s Into the Light Walk.
Overcoming difficult times
Others who heard Halloran’s harrowing story about his son’s death said his words gave them strength when they needed it most. Pleasantville High School senior Jack Gorsuch said when he first heard about Break the Hold when he was in middle school, he was inspired to join the Into the Light Walk. It was that first walk that Gorsuch heard Halloran speak.
As a shy person, Gorsuch said he agonized over his parents’ contentious divorce as he struggled to cope in a difficult home environment.
“One night when I was about 12 or 13, I found myself in front of my parents’ medicine cabinet,” Gorsuch said. “I lined up all the medicines and thought about taking them all when I distinctly heard in my mind Mr. Halloran’s words – words that stuck with me. I just couldn’t bring myself to take the pills.”
Gorsuch’s mother, Jennifer, shared her son’s story at the 2023 walk.
“I spoke about how we are a BTH family,” she said. “I do think they saved Jack’s life.”
Jack Gorsuch has never missed a Break the Hold walk. He started speaking about mental health issues at games and other school events. Students began reaching out to him to share their own experiences.
“Everyone listening to me either on the field or in the hallways made me wonder how you never know who is struggling,” Gorsuch said. “The first person I heard from was a student in a grade below me and whose parents were getting divorced. He said hearing me speak made him feel comfortable enough to reach out.”
Other students who contacted Gorsuch included a childhood friend and a 10th-grader all seeking to share their own stories. Gorsuch responded with positive encouragement, telling those reaching out to call or text whenever they need to.
A student in Susi Wilson’s Pleasantville High School class holds a tray of sand bags with a light that will illuminate a dark corridor at Parkway Field for this weekend’s Into the Light Walk.
“It’s really tough to hear what they’re going through,” he said. “But I’d rather have friends cry on my shoulder than seeing others cry at their friend’s funeral, God forbid that would ever happen. I let them know I’m here for them and they’re not alone.”
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, more than 7,000 teens and young adults from ages 10 to 24 die by suicide each year in the United States, making it the second-leading cause of death for the age group. For those 15 to 19 years old, the suicide rate is 11 to 15 deaths per 100,000 people.
Last year the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that between 2021 and 2024 depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in teens declined. The report revealed the prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 12- to 17-year-olds fell from nearly 13 percent in 2021 to 10 percent in 2024 while teen suicide attempts also fell slightly, from 3.6 to 2.7 percent. Information cited included risk factors involved in suicidal tendencies such as untreated mental illness, prolonged stress, isolation and access to lethal means such as firearms and medication.
An eye toward the future
As of last week, more than 200 people had registered for the Into the Light Walk, according to Halloran.
“But we always get about 500 actually showing up at the walk,” he said.
Jack Gorsuch, who spoke at last year’s walk, recently received a $2,500 Break the Hold scholarship given annually to a high school senior. He was awarded a full tuition scholarship to study neuroscience next year at Baylor University.
“I would love to do something like BTH in Texas,” Gorsuch said. “There is a really strong community at Baylor, and if something like BTH is not already there, I can play a leadership role by starting something up.”
For more information or to register for the walk, visit https://www.raceentry.com/into-the-light/race-information. Pleasantville High School is located at 60 Romer Ave.
