LEOMINSTER — Brian Malmon was a parent’s dream child. He was popular, took part in sports and music, took advanced high school courses and made the dean’s list every semester at Columbia University.

Until a mental illness diagnosed nearly four years after he began hearing voices ended with Brian taking his own life during his senior year of college, at age 22.

His younger sister, Alison Malmon, was a senior in a Maryland high school when her brother died. The anguish and loss suffered by her family motivated her to create Active Minds, a nonprofit organization advocating communication among young people about mental illness.

Speaking at a mental health conference yesterday at the Four Points Sheraton, Ms. Malmon told about 250 attendees the importance of early awareness.

“The vast majority of mental illnesses start in middle school, high school and college ages. This is a time when we need to be educated,” she told the crowd of mostly students, teachers, and health professionals.

Suicide is leading cause of death among college students, recently overtaking alcohol-related deaths, according to a 2011 study by University of Virginia.

Ms. Malmon said her brother was building a career in journalism by becoming a sports editor and columnist for the college newspaper.

Although his friends at college did not notice major behavioral changes, at the beginning of his senior year, Brian went to school counselor for symptoms of anxiety and depression. He was sent home for a weekend, to relax, she said, but it soon became obvious that his troubles were deeper than depression.

Many visits to a local psychiatrist resulted in a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, after it was revealed that Brian had been hearing voices telling him to pack up his dorm room and live on the streets of New York City. And run up and down stairs for hours. He followed those instructions.

“They were not dangerous voices,” Ms. Malmon said. “People fear mental health patients, but the vast majority of them are more likely to be the victims of violence.”

Brian told nobody about the voices, his sister said, which is the main reason she started her organization, initially at the University of Pennsylvania, which she attended after her brother died. Students would simply share their own stories, or their family stories. It evolved to encompass several other programs, including having counselors and young speakers go out into communities to connect with young people.

“It is not earth-shattering work, it’s just breaking down barriers,” she told the group. “These are not old white-haired men smoking pipes as often portrayed in the media, these are real people.”

After Ms. Malmon graduated, she formed the current Active Voices, which now has more than 340 chapters, including at WPI, Clark University, the College of the Holy Cross and Assumption College, all in Worcester. There is a new chapter at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, a host of the event along with the Leominster-based SHINE Initiative, a mental health wellness advocacy group founded in 2004 by employees and directors of Fidelity Bank. The second full week of October marks Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Also speaking yesterday were Barry N. Feldman, director of psychiatry services for the state Department of Public Health and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester; Nick Dutter, an Army combat veteran who served in Iraq, and a veteran outreach coordinator for the Central Mass Home Base program, a housing program and emergency shelter; and Phoebe S. Moore, a psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at UMass Medical School.

Mr. Feldman spoke on youth suicide prevention, citing untreated depression as the major factor, especially in young men. It is the third most common cause of death in teens, he said.

“So prevention at a younger age is very important,” he said. “Depression presents very differently in young people. It can be irritability, anger, or agitation.”

Mr. Feldman said most suicides are preventable, especially if there have been warning signs such as previous attempts, risk factors such as psychiatric disorders, and recent severe stressful events such as a death, trouble with authorities, or changing schools. He said there are 50 to 200 suicide attempts per suicide.

Ms. Malmon said 67 percent of young people contemplating suicide tell friends rather then anyone else.

“So we have to change the way society approaches mental health. We have to listen to young people,” she said.

Ms. Moore was asked by audience members about the difficulty of finding mental health counselors for young people. She acknowledged that the task is difficult, and that most parents first approach pediatricians or family doctors. But, she said, methods are improving. For example, she said, autism screening is now done routinely by most pediatricians.

“There are not enough sufficiently trained therapists, but training is ongoing,” she said.

Contact Karen Nugent at knugent@telegram.com.