Life;Story suicide prevention 5K/10K race in Sarasota includes Be Well Bell unveiling

SARASOTA, Fla. — As part of a community event for suicide prevention, Centerstone celebrated the installation of a Be Well Bell public art display that promotes mental health care.  

Life;Story Florida 5K and 10K took place Sept. 19, at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. Before the races, Centerstone’s Be Well team unveiled a special Be Well Bell. The bell is a three-dimensional art piece created by mental health professionals from the Gulf Coast.  

The Be Well Bell displays provide viewers with information on how to access behavioral health care as part of an effort to remove barriers and increase access to quality health care for underserved populations in Florida. All proceeds from the Sarasota Life;Story event benefit Centerstone’s mental health services in southwest Florida, helping ensure mental health care remains accessible to anyone in need.  

Centerstone Director of Be Well Initiatives Bailey Pyle, LPC, explained the Be Well Community launched its bell program in 2021 with the goal of “changing the way we view conversations about mental health, reducing the stigma about mental health and starting to create home and lives we enjoy living.”  

“The beauty about art — whether it be visual arts, theater or music — is that artists intentionally create the layers hoping one of the layers will speak to someone,” Pyle said. “The hope with art is that it speaks to somebody, that it says something, and that we all get to interpret in our own way what it is saying.”  

The Be Well Bell program offers blank bells to be painted with a meaningful design for public display. The bell is symbolic in the world of behavioral health. When state-run asylums were closed, metal workers took the chains and shackles that were once used to restrain institutionalized persons and cast the metal to make bells. Mental Health America turned the bell into a symbol of hope for individuals with severe mental health conditions and substance use disorders.  

After the unveiling, the Centerstone Florida Be Well Bell will travel to different sites at Florida offices and clinics for public viewing.  

About Centerstone: Centerstone is the largest nonprofit behavioral health organization in the United States. With more than 10,000 team members working at 360 locations in communities across the country, Centerstone provides healing and hope to people of all ages through mental health services, addiction care and social supports. Centerstone is a leader in operations for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Centerstone’s Foundation secures philanthropic resources to support the work and mission of delivering care that changes lives. Learn more at Centerstone.org.