BLACKFOOT — Nicole Dixon said she sat with the staff at Solace Counseling, where she is a licensed clinical social worker, to come up with an idea to help bring awareness to the community about mental health care and access.

“We wanted to do something big for the community,” Dixon said. “Someone suggested a 5k, so we decided to do it as a fun run/walk.”

The theme of the 5k run/walk is “Mentally Strong” with an 80s vibe, and will be held at Jensen Grove Park in Blackfoot on May 2. Race starts at 10 a.m. with runners and a few minutes later for those walking. Everyone needs to be checked in by 9:30 a.m.

The cost is $25 for early registration, $30 for regular registration and $35 for late registration, which is two weeks before the race.

“Everyone who participates will get a shirt at the beginning and a bag at the end Dixon said. “The bag will have a passport to visit the vendors to help them be mentally strong.”

Visit every vendor and get the passport completely checked off, and you can put in the drawing for a couple of baskets Solace will give away. There will also be a raffle where people can buy tickets to win another basket.

While the deadline for the race looms in the distance, a more immediate deadline connected to the race is fast approaching. Solace Counseling is also hosting an art contest for youth grades sixth through 12th, broken down into two contests, one for those in grades sixth through eighth and another for those in grades ninth through 12th.

“There will be one winner from each group,” Dixon said. “One winner’s art will be on the shirts we are giving away, and the other will be on the bag.”

Oh, and each winner will also get a $100 prize.

But the deadline is coming quickly, and all art must be submitted by March 24 at 6 p.m. to Solace Counseling at 725 Jensen Grove Drive, Suite 4.

There are some guidelines and restrictions on that art. The art must be in line with the race’s theme of “Mentally Strong,” with an ‘80s vibe, and the artist can use no more than three colors. Also, only original work will be considered.

Not only is Solace Counseling working on all this for public awareness, but it is also raising funds with the event.

“All the funds are going to help Hope Squad,” Dixon said. “Right now, Snake River (High School) has a Hope Squad, and we are hoping to raise enough to help another school start a Hope Squad.”

Hope Squad is a national program that started in Utah that helps to train high school students to help fellow students who may be at risk for suicide or are struggling with their mental health. Dixon, who moved to Blackfoot about five years ago from Utah, is familiar with Hope Squad and believes in the approach it is taking to help students.

“What Hope Squad does is (that it) provides peer-to-peer support,” Dixon said. “The program trains elected students in their schools on how to help refer their peers to get help if they are suicidal or struggling with mental health.”

When a school becomes a member of Hope Squad, the program goes in and asks the student body to write down the name of a fellow student whom they would go to if they needed help. Hope Squad gathers those submissions, goes through them and finds several who are most referenced. Then they reach out to those students and ask them if they want to be part of the program at their school.

“That’s what really makes Hope Squad different, is these are elected peers that students can go to,” Dixon said. “Who better to help than their peers who are trained in suicide prevention?”

The cost to start a Hope Squad at a school is $5,000, which includes all the initial training. Since students eventually graduate or are no longer part of the program at that school for other reasons, new peers need to be trained, so each year it’s $3,000 to remain in the program. Depending on its size, each school also gets two or three advisors at a cost of $600 per advisor for the school year.

Dixon keeps up to date with Hope Squad and said that, according to its latest numbers, roughly 14,000 referrals for suicide or mental health assistance have been made nationwide through the program during the current school year.

For more information on Solace Counseling, the art contest or the Mentally Strong 5K, check out its Facebook page, Solace Counseling Blackfoot.