Soothing “chill” music played for walkers at the CISD track last Wednesday, bringing awareness to mental health and suicide prevention. Adults and teens walked the track, while community groups shared local mental health resources.
Cuero’s Pilot Club as well as the CHS Anchor Club sponsored the event with support from Cuero ISD.
Anchor Club President Trent Carnes said this summer he learned that a fellow club member, Kailee Villarreal, had committed suicide while he was attending the International Anchor Club Convention in Colorado.
He said they had just attended a program describing the warning signs, and they couldn’t believe it actually happened.
“It was hard learning that,” Carnes said. “This can happen to anyone at any time.”
The Cuero ISD table had school counselors in attendance with resources, such as coping strategies, emergency outreach numbers, and journals with mental health prompts.
Another handout called “Suicide Contagion” discusses the risks of geographical, psychological and relationship proximity to some who committed suicide. It said that talking to teens about suicide will not put the idea in their head, and that if a suicide has occurred, teens are probably already talking about it.
“Appropriate discussions regarding mental health and suicide can help reduce the risk of suicide contagion,” according to the handout from headspace.org.
“It’s nice just to walk and bring awareness to mental health,” Laura Carnes, a Pilot Club representative, said. The hope was that teens who might be experiencing depression would see adults out walking and know that someone cares. Carnes said she hoped they might reach out.
“Not every disease is visible,” she said. “Depression is an invisible illness.”
Carnes said the Pilot Club’s initiative is traumatic brain injury, and mental health is part of that.
Other community groups in attendance included Billy J. Cattan Recovery Outreach, Imagination Library, Midcoast Family Services, TriCity Empowerment Council, the Cuero Police and Fire departments.
