Fashion meets advocacy at Runway 2 Life fundraiser for mental health

Runway 2 Life, a local mental health organization, will hold its fifth annual fashion show and gala Oct. 1 to raise funds and awareness for its life-saving work. The event, to be held at at Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond, is designed to coincide with Suicide Prevention Month (September), Mental Health Awareness Week (Oct. 3-9), and World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10). The event will feature locally sourced food and beverages in addition to the show, along with a gift bag assembled by event sponsors and a chance to browse onsite vendor and resource booths.

With the emotional, mental, and spiritual impacts of the pandemic, Runway 2 Life has been responding to increasing numbers of urgent requests for help.

“We have never been busier answering calls, and providing training, counseling, and crisis intervention than we are right now,” said founder Alicia Amsler, a salon owner and stylist who started the organization after a peer took her own life. “Stylists are in a unique position to see and hear signs of mental health challenges and danger.  You can see physical signs of abuse or self-harm, and you can hear words that signal distress.”

Amsler first began empowering stylists locally and nationally with mental health training, teaming up with salons and mental health experts to equip professionals with the tools they needed to take action. Today, the organization’s reach extends well beyond the salon chair. Runway 2 Life hosts and sponsors trainings online and in-person including SafeTalk trainings, which equip attendees with suicide alertness skills and empower them with information about how to have a conversation with someone who needs help. Other trainings are built for parents to recognize and support their teen children.

Event tickets are available at runway2life.com. For sponsorship information, e-mail Alicia.Amsler@Runway2Life.com.

For details about Suicide Prevention Month and Mental Health Awareness Week, visit https://www.nami.org. For help from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 800-273-TALK (8255) or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/.