Ending the Silence: The Fourth Annual Conference, “Hand-Me-Down Blues: treating depression in families” will explore the symptoms, treatment and prevention of depression and suicide Friday.

The conference is the fourth in a series developed and with initiated funding by Tom Bonine, said Dave Onestak of the Counseling Center. Bonine is a parent of an Eastern student who committed suicide in the late ’90s.

The conference is to make an effort to reduce the risk of suicide, Onestak said. The goal of the conference is to provide an avenue for people to become increasingly aware of depression influencing campuses and Eastern.

The conference will demonstrate skills to reduce the impact of effects on students particularly and assist people struggling in that position, Onestak said.

Michael D. Yapko, clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist in Solana Beach, Calif., will present at the conference.

Yapko is an internationally known psychotherapist, Onestak said. He will discuss the prevention of suicide, issues and symptoms of depression and mood disorders. Yapko will focus on non-biological causes of suicide and depression such as experiences in families that can lead to depression.

Onestak and the assistant director of the Counseling Center attended a conference where Yapko was presenting, enjoyed the presentation and decided to have him present, Onestak said.

“It is hard to find good presenters,” Onestak said. “Just because they are well known and wrote books doesn’t mean they are good at presenting.”

The conference is primarily geared toward mental health professionals, Onestak said.

Participants needed to register in advance for the conference, Onestak said. Registration was open to all students, faculty, staff and mental health groups across the state. The Counseling Center is expecting about 40 people in attendance.

The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.