WALLOWA COUNTY — Due in part to the pandemic, suicide rates across the country have surged over the past three years. Wallowa County is not immune to this national problem, and the Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness is the focal point for dealing with suicide locally.

Center Director Chantay Jett and clinical Director Mollie Cudmore will address the issue at a Josephy Center Brown Bag at noon on Tuesday, June 14. The event will be live and livestreamed.

Jett grew up in Wallowa County, earned degrees in business and psychology, and worked with children in an in-patient psychiatric unit at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. She returned to the county and picked up her mental health career, becoming director of the Center for Wellness in 2015. Jett and husband Lem have two teenaged children.

Cudmore is a licensed clinical social worker, and the new clinical director at the Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness. Mollie earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Montana. She has worked in the mental health field since 2001, and came to Wallowa County from Bethel, Alaska, seven years ago. She focuses on challenges in loss, including divorce, death, stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and transitional changes.

The Brown Bag presentation will address the rising tide of suicides, and talk about seeing early signs of potential suicide and finding help.

Brown Bags are free and open to the public with donations appreciated. Directions for distance attendance will be published on the Josephy Center webpage at josephy.org. For further information, contact Rich Wandschneider at 541-432-0505.