EAGLE RIVER — The Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Sept. 14 “A Night Out For First Responders,” drew approximately 40 people, said Sheriff Curt Pennala. It may seem like a low number until it is remembered that the event was primarily geared toward those who are the first to respond to a mental health-related response call in the community.

The event was for local fire, EMS, law enforcement and first responders to gather to further the relationships between agencies that are often on the same scene together, Pennala said.

“Representatives from the Houghton Police Department, our office, were there,” said Pennala. “There were a couple of dispatchers that made it from down in Negaunee. Members of fire departments from Bootjack, outward came.”

The Night Out included a special guest speaker, David Woods Bartley, a suicide prevention speaker, whose favorite motto is “Sometimes what hurts the most can’t be seen; but, sometimes what helps the most is easy to do.”

“They all seemed to enjoy it,” Pennala commented.

Pennala said he feels that it suggests that in some way or form, everybody is struggling with the issue: Mental health.

“Whether it’s at work, at home; maybe it’s a family member, maybe it’s a friend. Maybe it’s somebody who they’re professionally dealing with,” Pennala said. “To some degree, people are dealing with it and I think the better we can get geared up, so to speak, the better off we are.”

Pennala said he and a number of others attended Bartley’s talk at the Rozsa Center in Houghton and estimated the number of people was well over 100.

“I always think,” said Pennala, that we — we had 40 people here, right? They have the correct tools in their tool belt. Now, how many people can they help? Whether it be family, or themselves, or someone in the community.”

Starting with just those 40 people, he said, the potential for exponential growth is right there.

“Bartley is a touching speaker,” said Pennala, “so, he’s kind of a relatable guy. He has the ability to move people.”

Bartley has endured the early death of a parent, inherited the genetics of depression, suffered repeated sexual trauma at the hands of a trusted community leader, struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and battled crippling depression for more than 40 years.

But in the six plus years since Bartley was stopped from jumping to his death from the 730-foot-tall Foresthill Bridge by a first responder, and his subsequent admittance into a psychiatric hospital, he has successfully navigated from the isolation of mental “hellness” to the inclusive space of mental wellness.

Bartley talks about the fact that mental illness is just that — an illness — and that those who suffer are not mentally deficient in their mental capacity, they just have a chemical imbalance or severe head trauma that hinders their ability to function normally in a certain part of the brain.

Bartley’s passion is to erase the stigma of mental illness from the public forum and is crucial to creating a more compassionate and caring view from the community.

Bartley is not the only one reaching out to the public at large to create a deeper understanding, and therefore, compassionate response, from the community.

The American Psychiatric Association states that :Many people who have a mental illness do not want to talk about it.” The fear of public judgement and stigma from their community members causes the sufferer self-stigma and shame.

But mental illness, states the APA, is nothing to be ashamed of! It is a medical condition, just like heart disease or diabetes. And mental health conditions are treatable.

“We are continually expanding our understanding of how the human brain works,” states the APA website (https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness) and treatments are available to help people successfully manage mental health conditions.”

A Night Out For First Responders was organized as an extension of a presentation on mental health held in May 2021, at the Keweenaw County Courthouse. The presentation stemmed from a social media post on the page of the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office in response to a young individual having had attempted suicide in the county during the first week of May.