How is the Cowboy Code impacting the mental health crisis in Wyoming?

In the West, there is a stigma around mental health that can stop people from getting treatment. Some call it the “Cowboy Code”-a philosophy that proposes you are supposed to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, stuff it inside and move on.
But sometimes the bravest thing you can do is reach out for help.
"The Cowboy Code," Season 1, Episode 1 of Wyoming PBS' award-winning series, A State of Mind, explores this unique stigma and what can be done about it.
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#mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #wyoming #wyominglife #cowboy #cowboycode #mentalhealthsupport

[@pslm23]

This series is going to be awesome

[@thecommiesalamie]

I moved to Wyoming June 19th, 2021. In April of that year I realized that when I was 15-16 I was a victim of sexual assault and rape. So the following months leading up to my move to Wyoming was incredibly hard. Once I got to Wyoming and moved in with my grandma and uncle in Worland I felt great and happy! I soon after got a job at a local restaurant and it being my first ever job it was obviously stressful. But even more so because I didn't know anyone and frankly, people (very, very, very few people) are assholes. In combination with my existing anxiety and depression from before ever moving to Wyoming it was getting to be too much. Every once in a while my grandma would remind me or ask me if I had practiced driving yet. And after a few weeks of waking up for a stressful job and coming home from work and being reminded over and over and over about the same thing began to be too much for me and on July 7th I came very close to trying to overdose in my room. Even after all of this I have no doubt that the state of Wyoming is in my future and I'm very excited to move back one day to the cowboy state!

[@codijo-myalaskandog122]

A lot of good info was provided so I think it is an excellent plan but it's easier for me to say... I'm 59 not 15 or 30!

[@adoxartist1258]

I'm so sick of the phrases "cowboy up" or "man up" or "put on your big girl panties". Those phrases are based in such dismissive, punishing attitudes that would rather humiliate than help. Like each of our human experiences and emotions are to be ashamed of. Just as there is no shame in feeling joy and contentment, there is no shame in feeling pain, in needing help.

[@adoxartist1258]

I am also sick of the term "mental health" or "mental illness," as though it's all about our thinking, or that it's separate from "actual" health. It's just illness. It's just health.

[@pslm23]

@@adoxartist1258 Agreed 👍 It's a "state of being" and each experience is unique.

[@Seven-ld9zv]

I'm not a cowboy so I guess this "cowboy code" nor this doc is for me.

[@lillijaye634]

I find it disheartening that still after all of the years we have put into "mental healthcare awareness" propaganda, we are giving this paltry look at the struggles of Wyoming's indigenous communities and featuring so much of the "cowboy" aesthetic when the fact that we don't acknowledge the other wonderful aspects of the people of our state often enough is a key issue in mental healthcare.