Source: ahherald.com

Red Bank Regional Alumna and Rutger’s junior Sophia Mazzini and her mom Yannah were guest presenters at RBR health classes for the Signs of Suicide program.

The family suffered a terrible tragedy three years ago with the loss of their beloved father. From that tragedy, Sophia with her older sister, Artemis, created the Into the Light program at Rutgers University staging their first 5k run for suicide prevention. The second will take place on May 4.

For the Junior Signs of suicide presentations at RBR, the SOURCE invited a special guest speaker, Alumna Sophia Mazzini, to share her personal story and information about the “Into the Light” organization she and her family began. Sophia’s mother, Yannah, also accompanied her daughter to the presentations. Sophia described in detail the day her father died in April of 2016 when she was a senior at RBR. Sophia was very open and forthcoming with the students about her dad’s death by suicide.

Sophia spoke about the importance of developing coping skills, ‘which will help us throughout our lives.” While accepting help is not always easy, she encouraged students to reach out to adults and to The Source when they are struggling. Sophia identified the student assistance counselor, Lori Todd as having helped her through this difficult time, although she was very resistant initially to speak with her.