Saturday's suicide prevention walk comes towards end of difficult school year

Josh Flynn, Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Ind.
·5 min read

May 3—The Stomp Out the Stigma Walk, a suicide prevention walk, will take place at the Logansport State Hospital Museum Saturday morning, May 4.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at the museum, located at 1098 IN-25, and the walk begins at 10 a.m.

Guest speakers include suicidologist Stephen Nichols, Lewis Cass student Lilly Shaffer and Mayor Chris Martin will deliver a proclamation.

This is the seventh year for the walk, which was interrupted by COVID for two years. It comes at a time when Cass County has been reeling from the completed suicides of two Lewis Cass students over the course of the 2023-24 school year and adult suicides within the community.

"It does bring the survivors and warriors together and that is one of the reasons we do this," said Connie McCarthy, the president of the Cass County Zero Suicide Task Force. "It brings everyone together and they can communicate and talk and meet one another."

She said it's good for people to know they are not alone when going through something so difficult.

This year, members of the Katie Kepler family will be on hand to show their support for mental health, including her fiancé, Brooks Ledger.

Kepler, 32, completed suicide in late March after coping with bipolar disorder.

"People can have a great life," said Ledger. "They could have it all like Katie did. She had a great life. She had a great family. She had a dog that she loved very much. She was smart. She was an attorney. She had passion for her job. She had everything going for her except for mental illness."

Ledger said even though his fiancée had a great life and everything going for her, mental illness could still take over someone's life.

In honor of Kepler, the Cass County Bar Association, made a $500 donation to the Cass County Zero Suicide Task Force's scholarship fund. They also encouraged local firms to reach out and make their own donations. The scholarship is in partnership with the Cass County Community Foundation and goes toward helping suicide survivors who wish to study mental health in college.

"Some of our members got together to try to figure out what we could do to honor her," said Andrew Stephenson, president of the Cass County Bar Association. "We discovered the Zero Suicide Task Force and we thought that would be a good way to honor Katie's legacy and stand in solidarity with Brooks."

Ledger was the previous president of the Bar Association.

"We just want to help spread awareness of the mental health issues that are going on in our community," Stephenson said. "The more people we can get to realize this is a community wide issue and end some of the stigma of talking about mental health issues and talking about our feelings in general. If you are having a bad day, find somebody to talk to. If you see someone having a bad day, give them that ear or whatever they need. It can help give them hope and keep them going."

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reported that in 2021, the Indiana suicide rate per 100,000 people was 16.37, higher than the national average of 14.04.

Across the nation, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that a provisional count of suicides in 2022 showed 39,255 men completed suicide compared to 10,194 women.

A big challenge in the mental health crisis is getting men to understand the importance of mental health care.

"That's tricky," said Mary Babb, a Task Force board member and a therapist at Bringing Hope Counseling, 810 Michigan Ave. "We think there is a stigma about mental health, there is a bigger stigma for males. We have a male therapist which I think helps bring them in but we need society to change enough to say 'yeah, it's OK to ask for help, it's OK to need help.' Everyone needs help sometimes. But how do you breakdown what has been built into society for so long, especially in the United States."

While a lot of Cass County's focus has been on youth mental health over the past year, the elderly are more likely to attempt and complete suicide, the CDC reported.

"They're getting scammed, losing their spouses," said Rhonda Murray, the Task Force's vice president. "They're in nursing homes. They're kind of isolated."

"We definitely need the community's support," McCarthy said. "We need them there to let the survivors and warriors know that we support them and are there for them. Let's talk. Let's communicate, have conversations about mental health. It's such a stigma even today. It's still a stigma to even talk about suicide or needing help. We need to get to the place where it is ok to reach out."

Mental health services will be on hand during Saturday's walk, including services for veterans.

There will also be food trucks, a silent auction and raffles to raise funds. Those attending may register ahead of time by using the QR code available on flyers or on the Cass County Zero Suicide Taskforce Facebook page.

For those in the community who are feeling that they need help, the Task Force members said they should call the national Suicide and Crisis hotline at 9-8-8.