Community urged to 'Make It Awkward'

FINDLAY — Get ready, Hancock County. It's time to get awkward. The Make It Awkward campaign, launching this weekend, aims to get people more willing to talk about mental health and suicide. "The name of the initiative says it all … It's an awkward thing to talk about someone's mental health," said the Rev. Dan Metzger, pastor at St. Marks United Methodist Church, who led the group working on the campaign, a subcommittee of the Hancock County Suicide Prevention Committee. These conversations feel strange, but could potentially save lives, he said. So, the subcommittee is encouraging the community to be willing to talk. When they started working on the project at March, Hancock County had already lost six residents to suicide in 2026. "We were hurting as a community," said Kati Rinker, crisis supervisor at Family Resource Center. The subcommittee was wondering, "How do we help people help people?" Metzger said the idea behind Make It Awkward is help ordinary people be better equipped to talk with their loved ones. "We know that the people on the front lines, really, are the friends and family of loved ones who are struggling," he said. The project leaders stressed that no one has to have all the answers — just to be willing to start the conversation. For example, Metzger said people do sometimes confide in their pastor about their mental health concerns, and he is not a licensed counselor. But the more he has learned about where those professionals and resources are in the community, the better equipped he has felt to talk about the subject. The Make It Awkward website offers resource and tips. They are trying to offer reassurance that "we're behind you to have these conversations," Metzger said. The subcommittee created a series of videos on the theme. Each targets a particular population, including the agricultural community, healthcare workers, veterans, law enforcement and seniors. One video features high school students reaching out to their peers, while another features high school and University of Findlay coaches. Another — playing on the idea of men being uncomfortable talking about emotions — depicts a pair of tattooed bikers who resolve to have these hard conversations. The group worked with Tiffin-based videographer Ben Bodart. Funding for the project came from St. Marks, the ADAMHS System of Care grant, and a donation from Jeff and Elsa Shrader and their family. The subcommittee will release the videos on MakeItAwkward.org and on social media throughout September, which is Suicide Prevention Month. "We want to reach people who are on social media who might be scrolling their phone at 2 in the morning and struggling," Metzger said. The campaign is also distributing yard signs and T-shirts, hoping to make the message visible out in the community as well as online. T-shirts can also be ordered through the Make It Awkward website. "We hope that these just get shared widely, that you're not able to miss it," Metzger said. Subcommittee members will be present at Saturday's overdose and suicide awareness event at Riverside Park with information, then will formally launch the campaign next week at the Hancock County Fair. The campaign will run through Oct. 2. Following a "spirit week" focused on mental health, Findlay High School will host a football game against Perrysburg High School that day. Informational resources will be available at the game. "Perrysburg has partnered with us," said Eric Osborn, coordinator of student services for Findlay City Schools, adding that it was encouraging "to see two schools that are rivals, partnering together to support mental health." Several other schools are also participating in Make It Awkward, including students and coaches who have appeared in the videos as well as outreach at other sporting events. Educators have working to get better at having these conversations. Following the suicide death of a student, all Findlay High School staff members went through Mental Health First Aid training earlier this year. "The best way to kind of explain it to somebody is, think about getting trained in CPR," Osborn said. "You're not an expert, you're not going to be a doctor, but you're trained to be a first responder." Similarly, "we're supporting teachers to be a first responder when a student might be struggling at first. They're not expected to diagnose a student, but they're there to support the student, recognize early signs," he said. Osborn said the community can work together to save lives. "Suicide prevention is everybody's responsibility," he said. "We know this can be difficult," Osborn said. "And you might think that a teenager, or even an adult, is just going through a hard time and will get through it, but if we don't have those conversations to check in on them…" He trailed off. "So we need to know," he said. "Just checking in on people. Understanding that there's a stigma to it and just really rallying around together as a community to support everybody." Aimee Coe, director of clinical and prevention programs with the Wood County ADAMHS board, and Bree Snow, manager of community program for NAMI Wood County, have been working with Perrysburg schools as part of the Wood County Suicide Prevention Coalition, for which Coe is staff coordinator and Snow is education and outreach chair. The Wood County coalition will have a table at the football game, and will be giving away its own awareness T-shirts. Coe said they haven't worked as closely with Hancock County agencies before, but "hopefully this opens up new opportunities for the future." Rinker said it's important to ask direct questions when you're concerned about a loved one. For a long time, people assumed that if you asked someone if they were thinking about suicide, you might plant the idea in their head, but research has found that is not true, she said. "There's not a right way to ask these questions," but it's important to be willing to ask, she said. "Even if they don't want to open up in the moment," she said, they will come away from the conversation thinking, "Somebody said something, and they noticed me." "This campaign reflects community impact at its strongest," said Zach Thomas, executive director of the Hancock County ADAMHS board. "Members of our Suicide Prevention Committee recognized the rising concern around suicide fatalities and ideation in Hancock County and came together to create a heartfelt — at times intentionally awkward — invitation for people to talk about an incredibly difficult subject. Our hope is that this effort lowers the barriers that keep people silent about suicide and shortens the distance someone must take to reach help when they need it most."