The Daviess County Cooperative Extension Service and the UK College of Nursing conducted the BARN Farm Camp and Dinner Theater on mental wellness and suicide prevention with Daviess and Henderson County high school students in December 2021.

Approximately 15 youth attended the two-day BARN youth camp to address mental wellness and suicide in their community. The youth learned about mental wellness, stress, and coping skills during the camp. Camp participants demonstrated statistically significant increases in knowledge for mental health and wellness; recognition of stress, anxiety, and depression; understanding the steps of QPR for suicide prevention; knowledge of self-care activities; understanding the importance of working with others; use of storytelling to improve mental health and wellness for suicide prevention; and understanding the links between mental wellness and suicide prevention. 

The highlight of the camp culminated in the youth delivering the BARN Dinner Theater on Mental Wellness. Seventy participants showed statistically significant increases in knowledge and understanding regarding self-care; mental wellness, the effects of stress; suicide as an important topic in their community; the need to talk about stress with family or friends; and reaching out to someone if feeling hopeless or having suicidal thoughts. 

Dinner theater participants left 73 comments regarding take-home messages and additional positive feedback. The key messages reported by participants included the need to talk to others about stress, use coping skills, be there for others and not be afraid to talk about this issue in the community. Additionally, participants indicated the need for Extension to host follow-up dinner theaters in neighboring communities and in their own communities during planting and harvesting season.