Suicide Prevention With REPS

In this episode of Common Folk in the ‘Boat, Eli and Dave sit down with Mindy Marriott, Executive Director of REPS (Reaching Everyone Preventing Suicide).

Eli: “What’s startling to me is some of the statistics that are locally based. I think we all like to believe here in the Yampa Valley that we live in a bubble and we’re protected from some of the things that affect the outside world. But suicide is not one of those things that we are protected from. It’s a problem here.”

“Is there a reason or something that you have found to be causing such a large number of suicides happening within this community?”

Mindy: “Yes, I think it’s a multitude of things, not one singular thing. And it’s unfortunately very common in other ski resort communities. Things we all are very familiar with like the cost of living, transportation issues, having random schedules in terms of times of year when you’re working and when you’re not, access to firearms, and experiences of financial hardship.”

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Coinciding with National Suicide Prevention Month, this interview touches on sensitive subjects about suicide rates and potential causes in the Yampa Valley, but also highlights the hope and healing efforts throughout our region.

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