Matt Dorgan took heartbreak and turned it into hope and healing. On Dec. 3, 2020, his 15-year-old daughter, Brianna, died by suicide after a long struggle with mental health.

"Her passing shook us to our core," he said, noting that close friends rallied around him but he knew he could not just simply move on. "As we shared our grief, we realized a painful truth: Every one of us had lost someone we loved to mental illness. And now, we had lost Brianna. We knew something had to change. We had to do something."

In those first raw moments of heartbreak, the idea for a mental health festival was born, he recalled.

"We wanted to raise money, yes, but more than that, we wanted to raise awareness and build a real support network for those in crisis," Dorgan shared. "Then came the words that changed everything: 'We need to build the bridge.' And just as quickly, someone shouted back, 'For Brianna!'"

Just weeks after Brianna's death, on Dec. 27, 2020, Building Bridges for Brianna began.

"Since that day, we've been committed to knocking down barriers to mental health care," Dorgan explained. "When we see a wall in services, we don't walk away. We find a way over it, around it, under it or straight through it."

Describing his daughter, Dorgan noted that he could talk forever.

"Brianna was an incredible soul - kind, compassionate and full of love for people and animals alike," he remarked.

Born in Key West, Fla., Brianna soon demonstrated a desire to help others, Dorgan said, sharing stories of Brianna's giving spirit.

A passionate animal lover, Brianna constantly lobbied to turn her home into a zoo, her father joked, noting that she wanted a monkey or a pig as a pet but happily settled for a pet dog, Emma, who she brought home just one week before her death.

An eighth-grader at Dallastown Area School District when she died, Brianna had a close-knit group of friends.

While cleaning her room after she passed, Dorgan found a simple white T-shirt with a powerful message: "Keep Fight;ing! I Believe in You You are a Star." The semicolon and phrasing were exactly how Brianna wrote it, he said.

"That message - raw, honest and filled with hope - has become the motto of Building Bridges for Brianna," Dorgan commented. "It speaks not just to who Brianna was, but to the mission she unknowingly helped create: to remind people that they are not alone and they are worthy of love, support and healing."

Building Bridges for Brianna, which serves all of Pennsylvania, held its first mental health festival in June of 2021. More than 1,500 people attended. Dorgan remembers open conversations about mental health and organizations completing real-time intakes and scheduling therapy sessions on the spot.

"That night, I spent nearly two hours answering emails, messages and phone calls from people thanking us for creating a space like that," he said. "That was the moment we knew this couldn't be just one event. It had to become a movement."

The organization soon became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and began paying for co-pays; providing coping tools; offering Question, Persuade, Refer prevention training; and speaking publicly about mental health. Still, Dorgan always believed he could do more.

In its third year, the organization received a donation that helped to open the first office, hire licensed social workers and therapists and offer free or reduced-cost mental health care. Within six months, the organization had outgrown the space.

Moving into a much larger office, the organization continued to grow.

"Since opening the new center, we've helped more than 400 people in our community get the mental health support they need," Dorgan said of the headquarters located in Dallastown.

Dorgan, who works full time as a probation officer for the County of York in addition to running the nonprofit, emphasized the organization works hard to provide care quickly, eliminating the red tape that can cause months-long delays via traditional routes to help.

Community support is needed in a variety of ways, from donating funds to volunteering, attending events or simply being there for someone who's struggling.

The organization's signature event, the Bridge Building Festival, is held every September in honor of Suicide Prevention Month. This year's festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Dallastown Community Park, 50 S. School Place.

"What started in 2021 with 35 vendors and 1,500 attendees has grown into a vibrant, community-powered event with over 100 vendors and more than 5,000 attendees," Dorgan said. "The festival includes music, food trucks, local vendors, mental health organizations and a powerful sense of shared purpose."

Also every September, the organization leads a Purple Light Campaign to raise awareness of suicide prevention, encouraging people to change their outdoor lights to purple ones to reflect one of the movement's official colors.

Although the festival is the organization's biggest event, Dorgan emphasized that the nonprofit works year-round to promote positive mental health.

"Mental health isn't a one-time conversation. It's an everyday commitment. And we're here, year-round, building the bridge between pain and healing, isolation and community, hopelessness and hope," Dorgan said. "Brianna's legacy is the bridge we're building: one that connects people to the help, hope and healing they deserve."

For more information, visit https://bb4bpa.org or search for "Building Bridges for Brianna" on Facebook.