Our Executive Director, Stephanie Weber
Stephanie L. Weber is the Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Services, of America, a non-profit organization headquartered in Kane County, Illinois.
She has a B.S. in teaching from Northern Illinois University, and an MS from Indiana State University in Counseling. She has since secured vast study throughout the United States.
Stephanie founded Survivors of Suicide, a more than 30-year-old self-help group. As a well-known suicidologist, grief counselor, speaker and crisis coach, her calendar gratifies.
She is the founder and former Executive Director of the American Association of Suicidology-approved Crisis Line of the Fox Valley, a 24/7 hotline for all callers who get specialized care from highly trained volunteer paraprofessionals.
She is a member of the board of directors of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), the center of the regional 1-800-SUICIDE Crisis Help Line, and a member of the Illinois Counselors Association.
In 2000, Stephanie was honored by AAS as “Survivor of the Year” and, in the same year, she accepted the Kane County “Hidden Hero” award. She is the current Survivor Chair of AAS. Ellen Weber, Stephanie'’s widowed mother, took her own life in 1979.
Stephanie has been a featured presenter at forums and meetings held across the United States. She has also appeared on numerous radio, television programs and talk shows.
Stephanie and her colleagues and allies collaborate to hold workshops and seminars in close and far places of North America.
She has written for Before Their Time by Mary and Maureen Stimming and shared two videos, Hope for Healing and Help Those You Care For with Iris Bolton.
Stephanie is mother to six children, and grandmother to nine, and great grandmother to two.
She seizes time to upgrade the 100+ year-old home she shares with three aging cats and to plain-dirt flower garden.
She is an adjunct professor at Aurora University where she teaches a semester class in suicide prevention to Master's level students when not gardening or knitting prize items.
Honor Roll
Stephanie Weber’s work and passion for the cause of preventing suicide have been recognized by the following honors and awards:
1987 – First Annual Governor’s Volunteer Award: Outstanding Director in a not-for-profit program in the State of Illinois (presented by Gov. James Thompson)
1992 – Women in Management, Aurora Chapter, Woman of Achievement
1992 – National Charlotte Danstrom Woman of Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Not-For-Profit/Social Services Category
1994 – YWCA Woman of Distinction
1999 – National Association of Social Workers – Fox Valley – Citizen of the Year
2000 – Kane County Public Health Department, Hidden Hero
2000 – American Association of Suicidology, National Survivor of the Year
2006 – Grassroots Award from SPAN-USA
2007 – American Association of Suicidology (AAS) Roger Tierney Service Award