Guest post by Chryss Cada, Pro Staff at Colorado Youth Outdoors.
The Power of Connection
Teaching a young person and their adult of choice to work together to tie a fly on their fishing line (or inevitably untangle that line) might not look like life-saving work–but that’s absolutely why I do it.
Since the death of my brother when he was 15, I have dedicated my life to suicide prevention. My work started as a 12-year-old answering calls on an unofficial suicide hotline for Mark’s friends and every other teen in the greater Loveland area who thought my brother’s choice would also be a good one for them.
Throughout my high school and college years, I was a peer counselor (officially and unofficially) for those struggling with the crushing challenges of their teen years.
My career as a journalist has been dedicated to shining a light into the darkness that threatens to swallow young people. I continue to tell the stories of those who struggle with mental health so that teens feel less alone.
And as a journalism instructor at CSU for the past 27 years, I’ve become the professor who students stay after class to talk with when the demands of Freshman life, far from the support of home, overwhelm them.
If any young person needs an adult to listen to them, I’m all ears. Maybe that’s why I was born with such oversized ears that school-day bullies nicknamed me “Dumbo”(although they never called me that when Mark was around, lest they incur the wrath of my protective big brother).
Two statistics drive my work in suicide prevention.
When I started researching my book on suicide prevention in 2017 (At the Top of the Stairs: A Child’s Story of Losing her Sibling to Suicide), I came across the following in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Office of Suicide Prevention Annual Report: “Among youth and young adults ages 10 to 24, Suicide has remained the leading cause of death.”
I was stunned, how could this be?
Decades after Mark’s death, suicide was still taking more young people from us than drowning, more than car accidents, more than cancer. Although we had made substantial progress to decrease these other causes of death, it seemed we were losing ground in the fight against the “preventable death” of suicide.
But There Is Hope
The state’s Office of Suicide Prevention recently reported that in 2024, the suicide rate (5.85 deaths per 100,000 youth ages 10-18) was the lowest for Colorado youth since 2007. I like to think this decrease has something to do with the other stat that fuels my dedication to suicide prevention: Youth are 2.5 times less likely to die by suicide if they have a trusted adult to talk to. These relationships are the number one protective factor to keep young people safe.
Where Teens and Parents Connect
This is the fact that brought me to the gates of Swift Ponds.
The banners on the property’s fence say it all: “Where teens and parents connect.” The relationships built untangling fishing line side-by-side will also serve youth when life gets tangled. At CYO we teach young people that there is an adult who is dedicated to being there for them–even when, especially when, they need someone the most.
Take Your Mental Health Outside
Mental health gets an added bonus when these crucial relationships are built outside.
“There are many studies that demonstrate how spending time in nature can improve mood, lower anxiety, and improve cognition and memory,” says Mayo Clinic nurse practitioner Jodie M. Smith, APRN., C.N.P., D.N.P., M.S.N. in a press release from the Clinic. “Making time for nature is important in order for us to maintain resiliency and promote self-care in a world that demands a lot from us.”
I Got One!
In all honesty, the importance of the work we do at CYO isn’t the only reason I put in my application to become an instructor. Selfishly, driving through the front gates of Swift Ponds is like driving back into the joy of my childhood.
The jaw-dropping, eyebrow-raising look on a young person’s face when they hook a fish transports me back to the times I saw that look on my own brother’s face. The shouts of “I got one!!” mingle with my memories on their way up to the heavens.
Beyond her part time gig at CYO, Chryss Cada is a freelance writer and adjunct professor at Colorado State University. An excerpt from her book and other suicide prevention resources can be found on her website chryss.com. Her reel on how adults can help a struggling teen is available on Instagram: BeThereForTeens.
Interested in learning more about the benefits of being outside? Check out our post Why Is Being Outside So Important to our Mental Health?