A Conversation on Hope, Healing, and Suicide PreventionA Conversation on Hope, Healing, and Suicide Prevention
Horizon Heart to Heart
Shakira Henry speaks with NAMI’s Jeff Perrone about suicide prevention, peer and family support, and reducing stigma around mental health in Western New York. Their conversation shares personal experience, community resources and the message that no one has to face these challenges alone.
34:23•8 Sept 2026
Hope, Peer Support, and Suicide Prevention with NAMI Buffalo
Episode Overview
- Suicide Prevention Month is a time to remember those lost to suicide and to support the loved ones who remain, reinforcing that no one is truly alone.
- Effective suicide prevention includes access to mental health care as well as housing, food, safety and culturally respectful environments.
- Peer support, based on lived experience, helps people feel seen and understood in ways that traditional support systems often cannot.
- NAMI offers free family support groups, Family-to-Family classes and a helpline to help relatives better understand mental illness and care for themselves and their loved ones.
- Reducing stigma through open conversations about mental health creates more space for people to seek help and to share their stories safely.
“"When you see peers connect on that level… they start to realise that they don’t have to carry this weight on their own."”
What drives someone to seek a life rooted in hope, even after feeling completely out of their depth? This conversation on Horizon Heart to Heart brings together host Shakira Henry and guest Jeff Perrone, executive director of NAMI Buffalo & Western New York, for a candid chat about suicide prevention, mental health, and the power of human connection.
Jeff shares how his daughter’s severe eating disorder and hospitalisation left him, despite decades in non-profit work, feeling lost: unsure how to find resources, how to support her, or even where to start. That experience led him to NAMI, and to a purpose built around making sure "no one in our region" has to feel as alone as his family once did.
Across the episode, you’ll hear how Suicide Prevention Month is both a time to honour those lost and to support the people left behind. Jeff explains that suicide prevention isn’t only about therapy sessions; it’s also about housing, food, safety, cultural respect and treating "health as health" – mental and physical together. Peer support gets a special spotlight.
Jeff describes the shift that happens when someone realises another person truly gets it: "When you see peers connect on that level… they start to realise that they don’t have to carry this weight on their own." From new peer groups focused on the LGBTQ+ community to long-standing family support groups and the structured Family-to-Family classes, NAMI’s model puts lived experience at the centre.
Shakira and Jeff also talk frankly about stigma, the fear families feel when they "can’t wrap their heads around" a loved one’s behaviour, and how education offers a roadmap – not magic answers, but clear next steps and shared understanding. If you or someone you care about feels overwhelmed by mental health struggles or thoughts of suicide, could this be the conversation that reminds you that you don’t have to carry it alone?
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