Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
“Can you remember when anxiety and depression didn’t consume you? Can you remember what joy and happiness really felt like? Do you ever feel like life is ‘one step forward and two steps back’? Maybe you felt so low that suicide crossed your mind?” Andrea Lies, daughter of Pete Lies and Sandi J. Lies of New Rockford, has asked herself these same questions many times.
These questions came as a part of Lies’ response to the article the New Rockford Transcript published on March 26, 2018, which presented the results from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The survey was administered to NR-S junior high and high school students during the spring of 2017, then the results were aggregated by Winkleman Consultants, returned to the NR-S administration and reported to the school board during their meeting on February 19, 2018. This data has since served and continues to be a starting point in many conversations regarding behavioral health.
Lies says, “With great happiness, the students rated highly in extra-curricular activities, family and social connections. Unfortunately, they also rated high for anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and bullying. As an outsider, and a past community member, I cannot sit idly by and not do something. So I am urging and asking the public to join several key panel members and myself in a public forum.”
The forum, titled "Life— Reaching Out, Stepping Forward," will be held on Saturday, May 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Brown Memorial, located at 621 Central Ave, in New Rockford. Refreshments will be provided.
Members of the panel currently include, but are not limited to, Kathy Gewont of Devils Lake, who currently serves as the President of the North Dakota Association of School Psychologists. Gewont has been a school psychologist for Lake Region and East Central special education units since 1995; Cindy Miller, who serves as the Executive Director of First Link and the 2-1-1 Helpline, which connects callers to information about health and human services; Samantha Bruers, the Area Director of South Dakota and North Dakota’s American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Rachel Brazil, a New Rockford resident, suicide survivor and active member of Eddy County Community Cares. Andrea Lies will be the facilitator for the event.
Prior to the forum, Lies will arrange for marked canisters to be placed throughout the surrounding communities. These “communication builders” are provided to encourage people to submit anonymous questions or comments to be brought before the panel at the forum.
The goal of the forum is to increase awareness, promote involvement and encourage those who are in need of emotional or mental support to reach out. Lies knows firsthand how difficult it can be to reach out, as she copes with her own mental health issues. She shares, “In my 40+ years of experiences a few things have come to mind that are a part of my survival kit. My kit encompasses communication, education, a support system, a frozen orange, and, by far the most important, is determination; or for me, stubbornness.” She adds, “My hopes of bringing this forum forward is to help people understand that even though New Rockford is small and limited of resources, that help, in a multitude of ways, is only a phone call or click away.”
