Finding hope

Scott Fisher was known to a be a good friend. A person who put others before himself. He lit up a room and was equal parts passionate, caring and loyal.

Few recognized signs that Scott was suffering. He committed suicide Sept. 10, 2009.

For his family and friends, his death sparked an urge to make a difference. They — like their friend and son, nephew and brother — wanted to help others.

A few weeks after Scott’s tragic death, they formed the Scott M. Fisher Foundation in hopes of accomplishing that goal. They’ve teamed with the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board to help raise awareness of the warning signs of depression and suicide and their stated goal is at least help one individual or family from suffering.

“When we conceived the idea, we wanted to make a difference,” Scott’s aunt Linda Fisher Werner said. “We felt there was a real need in our community. There’s a greater need than we ever imagined.”

The statistics

According to Alan Rasmussen of the RRCSB, there were 10 suicides in Culpeper County in 2007, up from four in 2006 and five in 2004. The problem runs deeper, Rasmussen explained as a survey was conducted in Culpeper County that showed 30 percent of youth has been depressed at some time during the previous year. Twenty percent of those had made a suicide plan and 17 percent of girls and 14 percent of the boys reported making a suicide attempt.

“One of the messages I always get out is that suicide prevention is everyone’s business,” Rasmussen said. “This is a community issue. You need community involvement. One or two people can’t do it alone.”

That’s where the support from the Scott M. Fisher Foundation has become invaluable. At a golf tournament held Aug. 13, the foundation raised more than $10,000 to help support awareness and prevention.

“It’s a huge problem in this area, which I didn’t know until after Scott’s death,” foundation co-chair Brandon Payne said. “I guess once something like that happens you start finding out more about it. Our community is a high-risk area. Something like this will go a long way in just reducing the stigma of the word suicide and the word depression. People are afraid to say it, it’s a taboo word.”

Rasmussen, who hosts training to help recognize the signs of depression and possible suicidal tendencies, says that educating the public is key to limiting the number of fatalities in the county.

“Ninety percent of the people who die from suicide suffer from a psychiatric illness that is treatable,” Rasmussen said. “A lot of times they don’t get recognized and they don’t get the right help. Treatment does save lives. You don’t want to stigmatize mental illness, not all depressed people are suicidal.

“The good news is, depression responds well to treatment. There is help and there is hope.”

Rasmussen said signs include sadness, when people lose interest in living, apathy, isolation from family and friends, aggression and irritability.

“It can be a shock, what I find is that sometimes people say is that ‘I never recognized it, I never saw it coming,’” Rasmussen said. “What they find after they go to the training, they realize I did know some of those things. A lot of times it’s just a lack of education and knowledge about the warning signs.”

Scott’s legacy

The foundation believed holding the Good Karma Memorial Golf Tournament was an excellent way to honor Scott’s memory, as he was a talented athlete and an avid golfer.

One of his aunt’s fondest memories was Scott talking golf with his grandfather, John Fisher, who at the time was battling an illness.

“It was quite spectacular to see him swing a golf club and see how many yards it would go,” Fisher Werner said. “He called my father ‘G-Pa,’ and I remember one day everything was so bleak and the outlook wasn’t good for my dad. Scott came into the room and he sat down and there was a golf tournament on TV. He said ‘we sure had some good times playing golf, didn’t we G-Pa.’ Just the two of them were completely radiant. It’s especially fitting to have a golf tournament.”

It also fit Scott’s mentality to help others. His close friend and foundation member Nick Swift remembers him as always being there to help, putting others ahead of himself.

“Scott was always thinking of everyone else,” Nick Swift said. “He was always someone you could go talk to. He was always very open until the last three years when he started getting depressed. We noticed, we spoke with him about it but it was kind of ‘how far to you go?’”

After joining Rasmussen for his training, Swift and the rest of the foundation learned the dos and don’ts of discussing the condition with someone suffering from depression.

“I would have probably gone up to him and said the wrong thing, told him the answer I wanted to hear. Not what he was truly feeling,” Swift said.

According to his mother, Gail Picking, Scott was aware of his illness, but it was still a challenge.

“Scott definitely showed signs of depression, that was no secret,” Picking said. “Scott’s problem was finding doctors that treated him was finding the correct medication. As a far as we knew Scott was doing all the right things in trying to get better. He just really had a struggle.”

But now his struggle is helping open eyes for others.

As the community support poured out at the tournament, the organizers were pleasantly impressed. Despite a heavy rainfall that dampened the Country Club of Culpeper, spirits were still soaring. Seventy-two golfers turned out for a packed house and several free services were provided by local businesses.

“It’s been fabulous, really beyond our wildest dreams,” Fisher Werner said. “It’s just been staggering and inspiring to see so many folks willing to help out.”

It’s what Scott would have wanted.