Stand Up Comic Guy Seidel provided the laughs; the band, “Shadows of the Valley” furnished the live music; and San Rafael Works Cowboy Cooking catered the food for “Man Night” Wednesday evening at the Carbon County Event Center.
Sponsored by Four Corners Behaviorial Health with support from the Hope Squad of Carbon and Emery Counties and many local businesses, the goal of Man Night was to raise awareness of suicide among males in their 20s and 30s and disseminate information on suicide prevention. The free event was held for men, and women with men in their lives, and drew about 75 people.
Therapist Johnathan Fauver said, “This is a very unique opportunity to talk about man therapy. Very often men in our society don’t have the opportunity of having support- people to talk to. So this is a way to communicate and connect about potentially, our mental health needs.” He advised that mental health training is available from Four Corners for other agencies, businesses and organizations. The eight hour course in Mental Health First Aid covers depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders and more. Although the course is free, the accompanying manuals are $15 each, so the Hope Squad has offered to cover the cost of the manuals. The Hope Squad’s Debbie Marvidikis affirmed, “The Mental Health First Aid course is a good resource and we’re happy to do that.”
Seidel, who grew up in Helper, joked about the venue’s acoustics and lighting, and compared the sound system to a speaker at a McDonald’s drive-through. On a serious note though, he said suicide prevention is something he really believes in. He observed, “I think everybody in here has probably lost someone to suicide. I’ve lost a brother to it and countless friends. We’re men and we want to be tough- we don’t want to talk about our feelings. So hopefully, this will help prevent some future tragedy.”
Seidel has won the Funniest Person in Utah competition, the Indy.com Comedy Blitz, a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Laugh Off, and the World Series of Comedy. He is a self-described “Optimistic Cynic.” He observed that a local pawn shop has been having a gun sale since 1993. “You’d think they would be sold out by now,” he quipped. He also recalled the original location of the statue of Kokopelli, and questioned the wisdom of putting it in the middle of the street less than a block away from three bars and the liquor store.
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