Chelsea Sapp

ANR Success Story #1

October 2022

Farmer Suicide Prevention 

At a recent Marion County Cattlemen meeting, Dale Dobson and Dr. Cheryl Witt gave a very informative lesson on farmer suicide prevention. I organized this event and worked with Dale Dobson, safety coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and Dr. Cheryl Witt on coming to speak with our membership about suicide prevention.

From 2004-2017, 109 farmers died due to suicide in Kentucky. With at least one of those being in Marion County. My goal was to raise awareness and talk about an uncomfortable topic with the Cattlemen Association because of their influence on the county and its farmers. I wanted to get people out of their comfort zones and bring light to an issue that has happened in our farming community.

At the end of the meeting, each member took a challenge to always call someone when they are feeling depressed and not themselves. Raising Hope sent special challenge coins for members with the suicide hotline number on the coin. Being someone who has lost a loved one to suicide, I really appreciated this program being upfront with what’s wrong with the ag community and making sure people have access to the appropriate resources for help. I was heavily impacted when a member of Cattlemen told me he had lost son to suicide, and he really struggled with that. He said he was so thankful someone took the time to bring this program to Marion County and have the available resources on site. Each member left the meeting with accepting the Raising Hope challenge and having the Suicide Prevention Hotline number in their phones.

This program has made an impact on 46 people in Marion County. 38 White male and 8 White female.