Through the collaboration of Webster County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Trinity United Methodist Church, Community Health Center of Fort Dodge, UnityPoint Health Berryhill Center, and the Webster/Calhoun Youth Wellness Coalition, the first Mental Wellness Conversation was held for all who “live with, love, and work with families” according to the organizers of the event.

Organizers include Laura Stover with Teen Information Pregnancy Prevention for Webster County Health Department; Kim Bodholdt with Prairie Lakes AEA; Audra Fisher and Linda Cline with the Webster County Extension Office; Jennifer Pullen, the executive director of Berryhill Center; and Kari Jones with UnityPoint Health.

Stover said this event was something they had been discussing since before the pandemic. They said when the pandemic started, it became clear to them that they needed to take action as the mental health of people in the community was destined to worsen.

Fisher said they were noticing farmers and ranchers were dealing with higher amounts of stress and Bodholdt said the AEA was and continues to work with teachers and students to make sure their well-being is being addressed.

They decided to hold this event to open up a dialogue and remove the stigma of mental health conversation.

“A hope would be that people take what they learned today about how they can reduce the barrier of stigma,” said Bodholdt.

One presenter at the event, Lyndsey Fennelly, spoke about her experience with her own mental health struggles.

“She was this all-star basketball player and on top of the world, opening a business and she didn’t want to admit there was something wrong,” said Fisher. “She had to get to a very low point in her life to realize that. She learned to be open with people about her bipolar and she was very raw and honest about her life. I think that helped people relate to her today.”

Bodholdt also was a presenter and spoke about the Make It Ok program. Make It OK is a campaign to help communities start changing attitudes and negative perceptions about mental illness, according to their website. Bodholdt said one out of every five Iowans deal with some sort of mental illness but many don’t get the help they need due to the stigma surrounding mental health. Bodholdt said statistically more people deal with mental illness than diabetes, but people speak openly about diabetes more than mental health. She said the goal is to have conversations about mental health in order to educate and break the stigma.

Demi Johnson, behavioral health program specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach, spoke about “Question. Persuade. Refer.” According to the QPR Institute website, QPR are three steps anyone can learn to help prevent suicide. Training to be a QPR Gatekeeper teaches people how to recognize the warning signs of suicide, know how to offer hope, and know how to get help and save a life.

The final speaker of the day was Pullen, who presented the resources available at Berryhill Center and specifically, its behavioral health urgent care. Pullen said the urgent care is a newer resource and is a place for people to go who are in crisis instead of the hospital emergency room. Pullen explained that their urgent care is a quiet, safe place where someone in crisis can walk in and sit down to talk with professionals. Pullen said so far they have seen over 350 clients and more than 80 percent of those clients have been able to safely return home with a plan of action and resources. Pullen said if they feel a client needs more than outpatient treatment, they will facilitate the process of organizing inpatient care.

The organizers said they hope attendees left the event with resources and knowledge to help others in their personal or professional lives.

Attendees filled out anonymous surveys at the end of the event and some of the responses to “What will you take away from today’s event?” included a promise to “advocate to and for people I work with,” a new knowledge of resources previously unknown, and a commitment to speak openly about mental health and treat it like any other health diagnosis.

Organizers said they hope to hold this event again and they want to keep the conversation about mental health going.