On 6th anniversary of daughter’s suicide, mom invites Columbus area to prevention event

Caption

Andrea Mills leads a group of educators from the St. Luke School in Columbus through the Love Like Lexi Project curriculum during a training session for teachers in 2021.

Credit: Mike Haskey / Ledger-Enquirer

On the sixth anniversary of her teenage daughter Lexi Webb’s death by suicide, Andrea Mills of Smiths Station and a group of supporters will conduct a free community event they hope will reach more people with the message they’ve been spreading.

The Love Like Lexi Live Project will take place Thursday, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Woodruff Riverfront Park, 1000 Bay Ave., in Columbus.

Mills, a registered nurse with a degree in psychology, is the executive director of this project she founded amid her grief after Lexi died by suicide — one of five teen suicides during a five-year span in Smiths Station.

“Our goal is to reach that one, to bring them out of the dark,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer.

The Love Like Lexi Project has reached more than 80,000 students at 138 schools in Georgia, Alabama, Florida and New York. In the Chattahoochee Valley, they include public schools in Muscogee County, Phenix City, Russell County and Manchester and private schools such as St. Luke, Glenwood and Lee-Scott.

“You can see how much they feel heard, how much they feel seen, how much they feel more normal about what’s going on in their life,” Mills said.

Now, she wants the Love Like Lexi Project to spread beyond school buildings. That’s why this event will be in a public place where everyone is welcome.

Mills will share her story, and the event will include the debut of an EP titled The Live Project, featuring local musicians Austin and Matt Pritchett of Heritage Music, written for this initiative.

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Andrea Mills, right, and her daughter Lexi Webb.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Andrea Mills

The event also will include a banner signing, where attendees will be invited to pledge their commitment to suicide prevention.

The Miracle Riders, in collaboration with the Shelby and Wanda Amos Foundation, will provide hot dogs, drinks and chips for the first 2,000 attendees.

Wanda Amos told the Ledger-Enquirer her family’s history of suicide motivated her to be involved in this effort.

“If we can save one person’s life, it doesn’t matter how many people come to this,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “There’s a lot more pressure on our children, and they see so much more stuff.”

Ride on Bikes and Celebrate Recovery are other event sponsors.

Other suicide prevention resources

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255) provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.

The organization’s website is SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.