Our Story
By: Mike Klanke
Back in 2017, I was going to attend a meeting at the Omni Hotel in Houston, Texas. I arrived early, so I decided to find a cup of coffee to sip on and a comfortable spot in the lobby to read the Wall Street Journal. Right in the middle of the front page of the human interest periodicals was a headline that stated,
"Youth Suicide in America was up 400%."
I was absolutely floored by that statistic! It completely struck me! To think, we have a real epidemic in this country. As a society, we are not paying enough attention to our young adults. What we really need is to find ways to care for them more and provide them with enough information and education to resolve some of these issues. We can’t save everybody, but we’re gonna try to and at least bring awareness to the situation so that we can reduce the overall increase we’ve seen in the last decade.
I promptly got together at one of our local churches, Kingsland Baptist Church, in Katy, Texas. They offered us a conference room to meet in whenever we wanted to. Our first meeting consisted of about 6 people and grew to 12 individuals at the second meeting. By the 16th meeting, we had about 72 people in attendance ranging from local leaders in our community to EMS, police officers, and ambulance services. During our meetings, we offer information about suicide statistics, prevention, and resources.
Our goal is to expand to as many other local groups as possible such as churches, synagogues, and schools. We will speak to anyone who are interested in learning more, and we are not going to exclude anybody. Everyone has the right to this education and informational process. Now that we have a system in place with the 988 Lifeline, we can service many people rather than just a few.
There are over 1,100 counseling centers throughout the United States with capable counselors, psychologists, psychiatrist, and therapists. They do risk evaluations to see where the individual is call in and whether or not they need help in their situation. Their goal is to get each person the proper help rather than calling 911 for a life-threatening situation. For many, it might night be a life-threatening situation, maybe the individual just needs someone to talk to and walk them through a solution to their situation.
Over all, the point of Prevention Intervention is to bring awareness education and information to people in need and to those who need this rapidly rather than going through countless webpages in order to get information that they need. We’ve been on this mission since 2017 and we’re still going strong. We are going to stay on it until we see a reduction happen in the number of suicide amongst youth and all other groups. We have a plan, and we feel like it is work. We invite others, like you, to come alongside and join us.
***Below is a similar article to the one Mike came across back in 2021.
Meet Us
Mike Klanke
Director/ President
Mike has 40 years of experience as a engineer managing projects in the oil field and petrochemical industry. Additionally, Mike is an inventor with numerous patents including precast concrete products, mechanical systems and pet products. Mike is now retired and spends most of his time in this endeavor. He prides himself as a thinker, problem solver, and loves to help anytime he can. Mike spends his time counseling, educating, and bringing awareness to a devastating situation within the United States. He says, "I look at it as a challenge, opportunity, and a blessing if we can help just one."
Susan Klanke
Director/ Treasurer
Susan is a Tennessean/Texan and loves both of the Big T states! She obtained her accounting degree from Union University in Jackson, TN and then later obtained her CPA. She is now a semi-retired forensic accountant and still loves "making the numbers make sense." Along with her beloved husband Mike, they enjoy spending time with their blended family of 4 children and 6 grandchildren. In addition to family and work, Susan stays happily involved in her church community group, neighborhood ladies group, and supporting Prevention Intervention. Life throws all of us curve balls, and unfortunately, both Mike and Susan have experienced family members who succumbed to suicide. As such, Susan has a heart for those who are hurting and feels blessed to be a part of our mission to share hope with as many people as possible. Susan says, "As treasurer, I take my role seriously to be accountable first to our Heavenly Father who created all lives with a plan and purpose, and then to all those who support our goal of saving lives."
Selim Sabillón
Director/ Vice President
Selim is originally from Honduras where he served in his country’s Air Force as a military fighter pilot. During his second year at the Honduras Air Force Academy, he was sent to the US Air Force for pilot training. It was in San Antonio, TX. where he met his now wife, Liz, of 30 years. After his service, he and his wife moved to the States to start a new life and a new career. He obtained his bachelors in Computer Science from Texas State University and his MBA from LeTourneau University in Houston where he currently works in Oil and Gas industry as a Digital Transformation leader, leading and implementing IT projects as a consultant. Selim is interested in making teenagers aware of this devastating situation and showing them tools and resources available so they can overcome any root causes of their circumstances they may be going through.
Help Us Spread Our Message
Prevention Intervention was created as a non-profit 501 (c)(3) in order to gather and provide resources to individuals and families about suicide statistics and most importantly suicide prevention.
Our goal is to speak to as many people as possible. We love traveling to car shows across Texas to share the 988 Lifeline number. Our 1970 FJ 40 Toyota Land Cruiser is a great start up conversation piece as we often have people coming up to ask questions about who we are and what we do. We have flyers and additional information so they, too, can spread the message, "There is hope. There is help."
We are ready to come to you. We are eager to speak in your schools, churches, police and fire departments, and other local organizations to let individuals know that are not alone and there are lots of great resources out there to help. Click the button below to contact us about scheduling a visit with your group or organization.
In the Media
We've partnered with local Houston radio stations to spread awareness far and wide. The below broadcast informs listeners about the 988 Lifeline number.
Listen Here