At 1:42 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2019, a gunshot pierced the quiet of winter darkness. Will Wagner, then 23, was slumped in his front yard in Laramie; he had pulled the trigger on himself in an attempt to complete suicide. The bullet traveled upward from his chin and shattered his skull into countless fragments, but the swift response of friends, family and medical professionals saved his life.

When there was a suicide within the agricultural community of Kaycee about six years ago, the community came together and created Alliance for Hope, a suicide prevention organization.

“Our goal was to try to involve as many groups as we could,” Hugh Turk, a 60-year-old rancher and the group’s cofounder, told the Wyoming Truth.

CASPER, Wyo. – Wyoming recorded its highest number of drug overdoses since 2012, along with rising rates of mental health issues, as community leaders and stakeholders this week discussed ways to address what they dubbed the state’s “mental health crisis.”

As mental health advocates ramp up their suicide prevention efforts, Wyoming’s suicide rate hit a record high last year, new preliminary data illustrates,