Avalon “Mal” Mallory is a strong supporter of suicide awareness and prevention. In both their personal and professional life, Mal has dedicated themselves to working with people in mental health crises.
In their personal life, Mal has had lived experience in working with people in crisis. They have seen the real-life impact of how suicide can impact a person and the impact it can have on a community. As a queer person, they have seen how things can weigh on a person and how important it is to have connections with others.
In their professional life, Mal is an advocate and trainer. While they were at Florida State University for their undergrad, they started volunteering at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and found their passion. They volunteered there and became a trainer for new volunteers for the Lifeline to continue volunteering and working with people. When Mal came up to UWF for graduate school, they started volunteering at 211 Northwest Florida, and have been working with the 211 team since. During this time, they were selected as one of ten professionals throughout the United States and Canada to receive certification training in Information and Referral Systesm, now known as Inform USA. They have also been a part of the onboarding of the local 988 call center- helping with training for the 988 staff and helping create the policy and procedure for training. As a part of this process, Mal became an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) Trainer for the community and has continued providing ASIST for the community.