Bethany’s Hope 988 art competition features work of young local artists

During Williamsburg’s Old Fashioned Trading Days this week and throughout the month of September, local residents will have the chance to view artwork designed by local students to raise awareness about suicide and ways to prevent it.

If they go view the art on Thursday, Sept. 7, during Old Fashioned Trading Days and vote, then they can also get a ticket for a free coffee or smoothie.

The second annual Bethany’s Hope 988 art competition features entries from local youth ages 13-18 or in grades 7^th – 12^th, and was available to local public, private and home school groups. The theme for this year’s contest was “Fearfully & Wonderfully Made.”

In August 2018, 16-year-old Bethany Faith Lawson became one of three people, and one of two teenagers in Whitley County, to die by suspected suicide over a 24-hour time period.

Bethany’s Hope was founded in dedication and memory of Lawson as a suicide prevention, awareness and support program in Williamsburg.

There will be a $100 cash prize for first place, a $50 cash prize for second place, and a $25 cash prize for third place, which will be determined by the community.

There will also be an overall winning piece that will be selected by a panel of local artists, which will be featured on a billboard off the interstate this fall.

The art display opened Sept. 5 at the Whitley County Fine Arts Extension Office, which is on Main Street across the street from Williamsburg City Hall, and will remain open through the end of the September.

On Thursday, Sept. 7, anyone, who goes into the fine arts extension office to view the exhibit and votes will get a ticket for a free coffee or smoothie from The Coffee Spot on Main Street in downtown Williamsburg.

The exhibit will be available for viewing on Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., and on the Saturday during Old Fashioned Trading Days from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

The art contest is also designed to raise awareness about the 988 National Suicide Prevention Line, which can be reached 24 hours a day by dialing 988.

“Our hope is to get the 988 crisis line in the minds of our kids,” Lawson’s mother, Melissa Johnson, wrote in an e-mail.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached 24 hours a day by dialing 988. Locally, Cumberland River Behavioral Health answers the 988 line. Callers will be listened to, given local resources, and, if necessary, emergency services will be activated if a caller is at imminent risk of causing life threatening injury to themselves or others.

Some callers will be referred to Cumberland River Behavioral Health’s Crisis Hub, which provides crisis stabilization services for people in a mental health or substance use crisis, who are not at the point of needing hospitalization but need services beyond what outpatient can provide for a few days.

Locally there are 70-120 calls to the 988 line monthly. Of those calls, less than 10 calls require the intervention of emergency services.

Texting and chatting with 988 is also available for people in a mental health or substance use crisis. Text and chat is not currently provided locally, but will be in the next year. Texters and chatters will be connected with a crisis center in America. Individuals in crisis can additionally text “HOME” to 741741.

There will also be a one-mile Bethany’s Hope walk on Saturday, Sept. 16, starting at The Green Space on Main in downtown Williamsburg.

The one-mile walk starts at 9 a.m., and will be led by 82^nd Rep. Nick Wilson and his predecessor, Regina Huff.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month.

Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death overall in the United States and is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-34.

In Kentucky, there is a death by suicide every 11 hours. For every completed suicide, there are also 25 suicide attempts where the person doesn’t die.

Statistics also show that someone, who dies by suicide, affects at least six people.

The Youth Behavior Risk Survey shows that 18.4 percent of Kentucky high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, and 8.9 percent of Kentucky’s high school students attempted suicide in the previous 12 months.

The Kentucky Incentives for Prevention survey reports that in 2021, 11 percent of Kentucky students felt unsafe while at school, and that 6,924 students in Kentucky self-reported to have attempted suicide at least one time within the past year.

Below are some links to resources you can seek if you or someone you care about needs help.

• Zero Suicide in Healthcare and Behavioral Healthcare – www.zerosuicide.org.
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center – www.sprc.org.
• National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention – http://actionallianceforsuicideprevention.org.
• American Association of Suicidology – www.suicidology.org.
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – www.afsp.org.
• National Council for Behavioral Health – http://www.thenationalcouncil.org.

Your local community mental health center, Cumberland River Behavioral Health (Comp Care), will see anybody. It can be reached at (606) 549-1440 or (606) 528-7010.