14 | NOVEMBER 17 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY
COVER STORY

“It’s caused some interesting reactions 
in my life,” he said. “Sometimes it’s 
hard to make new friends because you 
never know when you’re going to lose 
someone.”

SOLACE FOR SURVIVORS
For years, Ethan Bean struggled with 
various mental health challenges that 
included anxiety, depression, ADHD 
and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 
Although his parents, Erik and Stacey 
Bean, provided professional help and 
unwavering love and support, Ethan was 
ultimately unable to bear his pain, dying 
by suicide four years ago at the age of 17. 
After Ethan’s death, Erik and Stacy 
found comfort in a local suicide 
survivors’ group, which they attended 
regularly for three years. They continue 
to get together with some of the other 
participants, who understand their 
experience as no one else can.
“It’s a club nobody wants to be a 
member of, but if you find out you’re not 
alone, it provides some relief,” Bean said. 
While the shock of Sam’s death is still 
recent, Leah Gawel and her family are 
grateful for the outpouring of love and 
support they received from people in 
their New Hampshire hometown and 
their former Metro Detroit community.

“Our community was strong and 
beautiful; we received unbelievable 
support,” she said, “and the Detroit Jewish 
community has been wonderful. People 
flocked in from far and wide, taking cars, 
buses, trains and planes with very little 
notice.”

FROM TRAGEDY TO ADVOCACY
Diane Orley’s email signature includes 
the words, “Be kind … for everyone is 
fighting a battle we know nothing about.”
She knows this from personal 
experience after losing her 20-year-old 
son George to suicide nine years ago. 
“George had bipolar disorder and with 
that comes mania and deep depression,” 
she said. “With all the good he had in 
his life, at that moment, he felt his life 
wasn’t worth living and he couldn’t 
compartmentalize that how he felt at the 
moment would change and things would 
get better.”
The Orleys were instrumental 
in creating the Wolverine Support 
Network at the University of Michigan, 
a peer-to-peer support program that 
was subsequently also implemented 
at Michigan State University (Spartan 
Support Network) and college campuses 
throughout the country. 
“It’s been proven that peer support 

saves lives,” said Diane Orley. “Kids need 
to know that they are not alone in their 
feelings and have a safe, nonjudgmental 
place to share.”
Diane Orley finds solace in seeing her 
other two children enjoying their lives 
and in knowing George is no longer in 
pain.
“We felt we did everything we could for 
our son, so, knowing that, I live in peace,” 
she said. “I miss him every day, but I 
know he is where he needs to be.”
To channel his grief in a positive 
direction, Erik Bean wrote Ethan’s Healthy 
Mind Express: A Children’s First Mental 
Health Primer and founded the Ethan 
Bean Mental Wellness Foundation, a 
nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental 
wellness initiatives for children and teens.
“The foundation was a way to give back 
to the community and keep Ethan’s legacy 
alive,” Bean said.

SHATTERING THE STIGMA
There was a time when people who 
died by suicide were barred from Jewish 
cemeteries in certain cultures. 
While this is no longer the 
case in most communities, 
suicide still carries a stigma 
that makes it harder for 
survivors to receive support 
Missy Bean

continued from page 13

Diane and 
George Orley

Ethan and Erik 
Bean at Lake in the 
Clouds in the Upper 
Peninsula in 2018

