University of Missouri and local social worker/therapist studying high suicide by firearm rate in Shelby County

CLARENCE, Mo. – It’s harvest time in northeastern Missouri. Rows of corn furl their browned leaves up at the blazing sky in Shelby County, one of Missouri’s least-populated counties.

Barely 6,000 residents live here, many of them on one of Shelby County’s 150 Missouri Century Farms recognized by University of Missouri Extension for being owned by the same family for 100 or more years.

For many, it’s God’s country, a place steeped in tradition and values passed from one generation to the next. It’s a tight-knit community where Friday night football is king, and everyone knows the color of the tractors on your farm.

But there’s a darker side that many are reluctant to talk about: an alarmingly high rate of suicide by firearm. From 2022 to 2024, six Shelby Countians have taken their lives by suicide. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reports 15 deaths in the county by suicide from 2011-2021 and 34 hospitalizations due to suicidal ideation. Numbers are highest in the 35-64 age group.

MU Extension state health and safety specialist Karen Funkenbusch says Shelby County is not alone. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported gun suicides at an all-time high in 2022.

Funkenbusch says Lilly White, a Shelby County clinical social worker and therapist, is drawing attention to the challenges rural Missouri families face. Her work complements efforts by MU Extension’s Show-Me Strong Farm Families program to bring awareness to stress and mental health issues in farm families.

White, whose husband’s family owns a Century Farm, is one of the driving forces behind Shelby County Cares. The nonprofit group’s mission includes bringing awareness to suicide prevention.

White and her colleagues are using a Missouri Foundation for Health grant to study the possible connection between suicide by firearm and generational farms in the county. She researches how Century Farm families may be vulnerable to suicide because of their “I can handle this on my own” attitude.

The Missouri Department of Vital Statistics says Shelby County has the state’s highest rate of death by suicide with a firearm. Nearly 3 in 5 suicides in Missouri are by firearm, according to Prevent Firearm Suicide.

Nearly 50% of Missouri residents own firearms, and many of them are farmers or veterans. Many own guns for recreational hunting, which puts firearms in reach of family members. White sees troubling trends in suicide attempts by the county’s adolescents who have access to firearms in their homes and reports of suicide attempts by prior residents.

The National Library of Medicine reports that accessibility to a firearm increases the chance of suicide by as much as 300%. And 90% percent of those who attempt suicide with a firearm succeed, says Funkenbusch.

White works with many volunteers and partners in the community to raise awareness at events. She also distributes information from mental health advocates such as MU Extension’s Show-Me Strong Farm Families program to raise awareness on how to open conversations about suicide during events targeted at farm spouses.

In spring, she invites farm spouses to pick up prepackaged meals to use during planting season. During harvest, farm spouses come together to prepare meals to take to the field, a common practice during the busiest and most stressful time of the year on the farm.

She’s also looking at offering training for those who frequently interact with farmers and their families, such as seed dealers, bankers and agribusiness employees.

During September, National Suicide Prevention Month, Funkenbusch highlights the many resources and programs – including QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), Mental Health First Aid classes and Heroes to Hives – that MU Extension offers to rural families and military veterans, both high-risk groups for suicide by firearms. Free telehealth sessions with counselors familiar with agriculture also are available.

A comprehensive list of resources is at http://muext.us/MentalHealthToolkit2024. Funkenbusch says it is important to remind loved ones of 988, a free service for English- and Spanish-speaking people who need to talk or text immediately. Learn more at https://988lifeline.org.

Shelby County Cares also offers some of the same free services, including QPR training, Mental Health First Aid and Conversations for Suicide Safer Homes. The organization also works with Missouri Safer Homes Collaborative and are providers for Missouri AgriSafe Network to help with farm stress management.

Extension specialists like Funkenbusch who work on the MU campus support University of Missouri-St. Louis colleagues on the Safer Homes Collaborative, a joint effort of the firearms-owning and suicide prevention communities. The program focuses on safe firearm storage and putting time and distance between firearms and those in crisis, which studies show helps to reduce impulsive attempts. Funkenbusch says Suicide Prevention Month is a good time to lock and unload guns.

For more information, see https://www.saferhomescollaborative.org.

You can also contact Funkenbusch at 573-884-1268 or funkenbuschk@missouri.edu. You can reach White at One Breath Mindset at lilly.whitelcsw@gmail.com or 573-494-2280.