Susie Reynolds Reece

Susie [수지] Reynolds Reece is a recognized national leader in the spaces of suicide prevention and lived experience. In her professional role, Reece leads the development of multi-organizational inclusion practices, acts as a liaison and authority for national lived experience experts, and builds national guidance to center lived experience across any field. Reece also bolsters lived experience engagement by elevating experts from diverse experiential backgrounds and perspectives. She holds the first and currently only role of this kind across the field of suicide prevention within the United States.

Reece began her prevention career as a grassroots organizer in Arkansas. She worked in substance use prevention for several years before becoming the first and only violence prevention specialist for CHI St. Vincent-Arkansas. Reece has championed and led multiple county- and state-level activism efforts revolving around suicide prevention, mental health, social justice, equity, and systemic improvement. 

Reece has championed and led an array of suicide prevention strategies for nearly a decade. She centers her work around her lived experience of being a child survivor of suicide loss. At age 10, Reece lost her beloved father, a decorated army veteran. Her father’s traumatic death drastically altered the course of her life and pushed her down a path of having open and candid conversations about suicide. Reece’s lived experience of suicide loss and her struggles with suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and stigma ensure she continually centers the needs of those most affected by suicide. 

Reece serves as a member on several boards throughout Arkansas and nationally. Reece’s highest-priority volunteer role is as the committee lead for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Corrections Implementation project, which falls under the AFSP Project 2025 strategy. She is one of two AFSP Project 2025 Champions for Arkansas.