About Us

Dance Walking Fool, INC, is a nonprofit dedicated to providing lived experience informed suicide prevention education was established in 2019 in Boca Raton, Florida and incorporated in November 2021 by Marianne Murphy.

At age 21, Marianne survived two suicide attempts and was hospitalized after each. When the 25^th anniversary of her May attempt was approaching her mom said she was sad that Marianne was still struggling with suicidal ideation. Marianne acknowledged that while it was sad that she still had struggles she felt there was a different way to look at it, to reframe it. Although she struggled, she is still here, trying, living life the best she can, and that in itself is worth celebrating.

Western culture is obsessed with outcomes and yet the journey itself, the daily effort is worth celebrating on its own merit. On May 17, 2019, Marianne went live on Facebook to talk about how we define success and failure. She recorded the video from the very park where, in 1994, she had laid her head down on a picnic table after taking 29 Xanax pills, intending to end her life. Since that recording, she has reframed that decision as her best failure.

At the time, Marianne didn't reveal the significance of the setting for the live video. Still, the vulnerable video touched many lives. She received numerous direct messages from friends who had been carrying the burden of suicidal ideation alone. They were grateful for her candor and relieved to know they weren't alone in their struggles. They thanked her for being there and for offering a safe space to confide their struggles. Marianne anticipated some negative commentary, but she received none.

She did receive a surprise from one long-term acquaintance, a friend of a friend, who said he never would have suspected that she struggled with her mood, because she always seemed so positive and upbeat. That is exactly the point: people struggling with ideation overwhelmingly hide it, masking their pain for the sake of family, friends, and colleagues. The cornerstone of most suicide prevention education over the last 40+ years has been the concept of spotting symptoms in people who are struggling. Unfortunately, the statistics show us that this approach is not working.

Since 1994, the annual death rate by suicide in the United States has increased from 31,142 to 48,824, a rise of 51.99%.
Suicide is the number one cause of death for people ages 10 through 34.
Children in the United States are five times more likely to die by suicide than by childhood cancer.
If you lose someone you love to suicide, you are three times more likely to die by suicide yourself.
Statistical Resource

These alarming statistics call for a different approach to suicide prevention education, one that includes the insight of lived experience.

Dance Walking Fool offers small-group peer support training with the CRAN Methodology. In this signature class, each participant has the opportunity to role-play both the person in crisis and the person offering compassionate, nonjudgmental support. The framework allows both parties to identify next steps after the conversation, while keeping agency with the person in crisis. It equips the support person with the tools to remain calm, caring, and supportive through reflective listening.

Peer support is about helping people feel less alone in their struggles, not about fixing them. We cannot magically solve another person's problems, but we can sit alongside them, bear witness to their pain, help them feel less alone, and remind them that their life matters.

Suicide and suicidal ideation remain the most stigmatized outcome and symptom of poor mental health. Stigma breeds shame and keeps people silent instead of asking for help. Dance Walking Fool aims to change that by offering everyone the skills to have the awkward yet necessary conversations that save lives.

Marianne is available for speaking engagements and consulting for university peer support program to include lived experience to existing academic and clinical rich programs.

Dance Walking Fool also offers online grief shares for loss survivors. Private celebrations of life for those lost to suicide can also be arranged.

Dance Walking Fool, INC