VIDEO: The fire that lit inside a Chesterfield Firefighter two years ago launched a mission to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health among first responders who accomplish some of the most stressful and emotional work of any profession on a daily basis.
Back in 2020, a close friend of Lt. Kenny Mitchell, who was also a firefighter, took his own life. While attending a memorial gathering for his friend, Mitchell jotted down a refrain he heard from so many first responders that day. “This [expletive] keeps happening because there’s nobody to talk to, there’s nobody to talk to, there’s nobody to talk to. I look out here and I think, there’s everybody to talk to!” Mitchell said to a crowd of people at the Independence Golf Club Sunday afternoon. “Operating inside the yellow tape is difficult, outside of the yellow tape is where we have most of our problems.”