Mental health to the forefront

I am a numbers guy. I like to share numbers to back up my thoughts and the basis for my opinions. Today, I am leaving numbers behind and I am probably not going to share one single number besides this one: did you know the third leading cause of death in adolescents worldwide is suicide?

Well, I did what I said I wasn’t going to do because that number does mean something but I am leaving it at that because when it is the one you love, that is the only number that matters.

I am proud to serve on the advisory board for Team Purebred. It is a junior swine association with 4,000 members from across the entire country. Yes, we do organize and implement pig shows as we did in Des Moines, Iowa, two weeks ago. It went very smoothly for having roughly 3,000 people in one spot, which is not common in 2020.

I have no intention of saying this youth organization is better than any of the others because I believe, with good leadership, they all offer great experiences for kids in exhibiting livestock and hopefully developing future industry leaders. With that said, I am proud to announce a new program at Team Purebred that I honestly believe will take us to a whole new level: The Jackie Bauer Memorial Mentoring Buddy program.

In my first couple of years on the board I was fortunate to work with a young woman from a farming family in Maryland named Jackie Bauer who always lit up the room. She always had that smile. She was the one all other junior board members and young exhibitors turned to when they needed a boost.

The story I love to tell about Jackie is about the time I needed to get my radio shows recorded during our Summer Type Conference in Springfield, Illinois, about three years ago now. I went into the office area, with my daughter, Landri, tagging along, and Jackie was the only other person in there.

While I recorded and produced radio, Jackie, then a student at Oklahoma State University, launched into a real discussion with a 12-year-old that made Landri feel so comfortable. Jackie quickly became that role model that Landri dreamed of becoming just like one day. She had that affect on everyone around her; she made you feel like you mattered and you belonged right there.

So you can imagine my heartbreak and dismay when I got a call in September 2018 that Jackie had taken her own life. I was in shock and complete disbelief. In fact, that group of board members that Jackie served on were so close that it was hard to talk about for quite some time. She was the last person anybody expected to have trouble. She was the rock; she was the friend to call when you needed a pick me up. How could Jackie be the one to do this?

So today, as we organize and build this program, our goal is quite simply to provide a network of folks from within our own community that friends in need can turn to. I will not go into the causes of teenage depression and anxiety but rather what we want to do in terms of prevention. The answer is not simple and I fully understand that. But I do, in my own simplistic way, see that if we eat right and have the support of family and community, we can make a huge impact.

Team Purebred recently conducted interviews and named Maddie Caldwell of Illinois our first champion of the Jackie Bauer Mentoring program. Each year we will select one person to take the lead and coordinate youth efforts for the program. We understand that even though these folks may all share the same passions, breaking the ice and getting the relationships started are the keys to success. This appointment will be a 12-month term and then a new champion will be selected.

We are actively encouraging all adults and youth to engage in the program. Full details about the program are available at TeamPurbred.com or on our Facebook page. Frankly folks, haven’t we been sweeping the issue under the rug long enough in farm families? And we all know this is not just an adolescent issue. I recently had a conversation with the DreadHead Cowboy in Chicago and he told me of his plan to ride around Chicago on horseback with the motto Reach One, Teach One as a means of battling suicide. I hope you, too, are ready to saddle up. Reach out—a precious life depends on it.

Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].