CEO Update: Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness month and with that in mind, I’d like to point out that all of Colorado’s 47 rural counties are in a mental health professional shortage area. That simply means we do not have enough mental health providers to meet the need in the county. Colorado has 26,661 mental health providers with 8.2% located in rural Colorado. In fact, access is 52% worse in rural vs. urban Colorado with only one provider per 320 residents. The number of people reporting poor mental health in rural is 22.9% with 55% having concerns about the cost of treatment and 53% having a hard time getting an appointment.
Unfortunately, those people aged 18 – 24 are experiencing the highest depression rate at 28.7% statewide and 19.2% in rural. In 2023, Colorado ranked 5th highest in the nation for youth depression. Rural high school students reporting recent poor mental health is 29% and 23.2% of high school students reporting unmanageable stress levels most days. And non-binary students were 2.3 times more likely to report recent poor mental health than cisgender students.
In 2024, CRHC released a publication titled Rural Unseen, a review of rural youth mental health. We know the pandemic took a toll on many people’s mental health with an increase in substance use, misuse and abuse and overall, a suicide rate that puts Colorado among the top 10 states with the highest suicide rate in America.
Over the past several years, CRHC has supported behavioral health legislation that work to change the narrative on mental health. Let’s continue to talk about mental health and destigmatize getting help.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 and a skilled, trained crisis worker will answer. This person will listen to you, understand how your problem is affecting you, provide support and share resources that may be helpful.
For more information about Mental Health Awareness Month, check out these sites:
https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/mental-health-awareness-month/
https://www.samhsa.gov/about/digital-toolkits/mental-health-awareness-month
