Program raises suicide awareness in schools
PHIL CAMPBELL – After Andrea Mills lost her daughter, Lexi, to suicide in 2019, she started the Love Like Lexi project to raise suicide awareness. Recently, she visited Phil Campbell High School to talk to students in grades seven through 12 to share her family’s story.
“O“Our mission is to spread awareness and hope while also creating a sense of community where students feel seen and heard, but also normal,” Mills said of her program. “We’re normalizing that everybody is going through something and that everybody has a story. To see all of them as a community come together and make a commitment together to live, love and lead was monumental.”
COURTESY/ Andrea Mills, who lost her daughter Lexi to suicide, travels around to spread awareness.
Mills said she’s already heard from students sharing their stories for the first time, as well as sharing how much the assembly helped them to see that their lives do matter.
Her family started their journey to raise awareness and inspire hope on Feb. 6, 2021. The website, Lovelikelexi.com, says the program encourages selfesteem amongst students.
“I think the biggest thing is if Lexi was here, she would be doing what we are doing – she would want people to know what she didn’t know,” Mills said. “She was a believer. She was a Christian. She was a star athlete.”
CONTRIBUTED/ANDREA MILLS – Lexi Mills, the daughter of Andrea Mills, loses her life to suicide in 2019.
Mills also described her daughter as “a motivator and encourager of other people,” noting that’s why this project is called the Love Like Lexi project.
“The way that she showed up in people’s lives, she left a legacy behind,” Mills said. “Our hope is that for those who were inside the assembly, they become a message of hope and life to others. I can only imagine how the 1,500 in that assembly are going to make an impact on their generation and in their community.”
“The event went great,” West said. “It was definitely a day I won’t forget. I feel like Mrs. Mills made a huge impact on our kids.”
“Our mission is to spread awareness and hope while also creating a sense of community where students feel seen and heard, but also normal.”
CONTRIBUTED/JENNIFER WEST – Hudson Hutcheson, Easton Hutcheson, Emma Rambo, Sadie Hill, Kayden Headlee, Lola Mays, Melanie Gonzalez.
