Judging by the number of people who attended, and the wealth of information dispensed. The Mental Fitness Fair in Worland Saturday, was, by all accounts, a success.

A large crowd gathered at the Worland Community Center Saturday morning to listen to speakers about a variety of mental fitness topics, some people stayed for the entire event that ended about 3 p.m. some people came for morning portion, some for the afternoon.

Each participant was given a card with a yellow feather and semicolon pin with encouraging words to "Be A Pick Up Man." The card read in part, "Whether you're the one needing help or the one offering it, we're all in this together, looking out for one another. So wear your yellow feather or your semicolon pin proudly signaling that you're ready and available to lend a hand."

The fitness fair came from the grassroots efforts of a committee spearheaded by Kendra Ware, after a meeting with Big Horn County Economic Development group who spearheaded a fitness fair in Shell last year.

Mayor Jim Gill opened the event stating, "An old saying I read about many year ago, 'people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. I'm telling you folks, you are going to meet some wonderful, caring, knowing people at this event today."

Ware, after being honored by speakers and the committee, said that in her job as funeral director at Bryant Funeral Home, "I help people when they're having the worst day of their life. And I watch how that affects them. If they don't talk about it, if they don't get help, that grieving process lasts longer than it needs to." She added on a personal note she has a daughter who was born with a complex congenital heart defect and when she was born the family was told that she would not survive. Her daughter is now 10.

"Looking at her, you would never know that there was anything wrong. But that's the funny thing about mental health is looking at yourself, looking at people you don't know that there's anything wrong. Mental health is in here. It's things that we deal with on the inside that if you don't talk to people, people don't know about it."

Kendra said has dealt with anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder stemming from dealing with the medical issues with her daughter. "And so I talked to a therapist, I'm on medication. I have a great support group of best friends who I can talk to every day and when I'm having those moments. They're there for me. My hope today is that you guys will learn from this fair, you'll reach out, you'll talk to your community members, you'll find people that have like-minded things because we all have trauma. Everybody has had things that have happened in their life. So be a community, talk to each other, work through it. Know that it's OK to not be OK."

She added that when times come where a person is more not OK than they are OK, it's time to reach out and ask for help.

Other speakers at Saturday's event included Megan Lathrop on Recovery, Dusty Hoopes on suicide, Angela Smart-Finn on tension and trauma release exercises, Brad Cline on veterans disability benefits, yoga by Kaitlin Stone, panic attacks by Melissa Cook, mental health and bipolar by Destiny Gutierrez, anxiety and attention deficit hyper disorder, Kim Elliott, meditation by Janae Harman and looking for signs of suicide by Lila Jolley.

A panel of Dr. Ralph Lewis of Oxbow Counseling from Basin, Janae Harman of Family Circle Counseling, Mary Johnson of Cloud Peak Counseling and Carol Bell of Foundations Counseling LLC answered prepared questions from Worland's committee, from the Shell event and the Cowley event. They also answered audience questions.

Range provided a lunch for attendees and Cloud Peak Counseling and Oxbow provided counseling services at the event for those who needed it.

There were many vendors in attendance and Ware said the committee was working on getting a list of mental health resources available that would be available soon.

On Monday, in reflection, Ware said, "I couldn't have asked for a better event. Everyone that spoke, shared their stories with raw emotion and you really felt like you understood what they were going through on a deeper level. It was a very humbling experience.

"I had several people talk to me afterwards about how this fair helped them feel like they weren't alone in the things they were struggling with. I had someone say that they were still in denial but listening to others helped them start to open up and maybe someday they will be ready for therapy. That was my goal for this fair. If I could help one person feel a little less alone, then it was successful.

"It was unlike anything I have ever been a part of and I am so grateful for the Shell group for sharing their message and helping us bring this program to Worland. We hope to make this a yearly event and continue to share information to help end the stigma of mental health."

The Northern Wyoming News will be highlighting some of the panel discussion questions and answers over the coming weeks.