Colorado’s youth suicide rate hits 17-year low, but experts say mental health struggles persist

The suicide rate for Colorado s older children and teens last year reached its lowest level in nearly two decades with fewer than half as countless youth taking their own lives as at the worst point in In May at the height of a pandemic that killed thousands of Coloradans and disrupted everything from school to sleepovers Children s Hospital Colorado and other wellbeing leaders rang the alarm about a youth mental vitality crisis in the state Four years later Children s reports that the number of youth mental vitality visits has largely plateaued around pre-pandemic levels which it described as already concerning The the greater part latest state information shows suicide rates and self-reported distress among teenagers are down from their pandemic highs and in a few cases lower than they had been for more than a decade Experts attributed that to the combination of a generation uniquely open to discussing mental strength evidence-based prevention programs and efforts to catch people at hazard of self-harm when they show up in hospitals But providers say too numerous young people still aren t getting help until their problems are severe and various early indicators suggest the mental strength of Colorado s younger population could be taking another turn for the worse Last year kids between and died by suicide a rate of deaths per youth a key drop from when preteens and teenagers took their own lives at a rate of deaths per youth according to the Colorado Department of Masses Robustness and Surroundings After adjusting for population improvement the last time the suicide rate was lower was in Suicide rates for youth also are down nationwide as are self-reports of suicidal thoughts and attempts according to a national survey of children between and The material marked one of the first reversals after more than a decade of increasing despair From to the rate of students nationwide reporting suicidal thoughts or making a plan to die increased about every two years and self-reported attempts increased about every two years The lower suicide rate is encouraging but adults shouldn t assume everyone is fine and forget about youth mental fitness commented Eddie Chen a senior at Valor Christian High School and leader of the public action crew with the Youth Council on Mental Healthcare The group focuses on raising awareness and reducing stigma in Colorado I definitely think people are doing better but that doesn t mean we re not in a state of urgency he reported While largest part of the signs are positive a inadequate clouds remain on the horizon crisis room visits for mental physical condition and substance use concerns are up this summer at Children s Hospital Colorado Preventing suicide deaths is a major accomplishment but the challenge now is connecting young people to the help they need not only to survive but to have healthy thriving lives announced Zach Zaslow vice president of advocacy and population fitness at Children s We re keeping kids alive but we re also seeing deeper mental medical struggles he reported Mental healthcare emergency dates to early s Arguably Colorado s youth mental wellbeing crisis really began in when providers started noticing a pattern of young people increasingly suffering from anxiety depression substance use and other behavioral fitness conditions declared Dr Jessica Hawks a child and adolescent psychologist at Children s While studies haven t proven any one factor caused worsening mental medical the timeline coincides with increased field penetration of smartphones and social media and with more kids reporting poor sleep she mentioned Broadly defined about one in five young people has a mental physical condition concern including certain behavioral and learning disorders stated Dr K Ron-Li Liaw chief of mental healthcare at Children s Of that group about half get chosen type of cure and only about get high-quality restoration she reported Still the available information suggests youth are doing better In high school students in Colorado were more likely to overview their stress levels were manageable and less likely to overview persistent sadness or thoughts of suicide than they were in Middle school students released their stress levels were unchanged but fewer revealed they had persistent sadness or thoughts of suicide No one factor explains the change but young people are more willing to talk about their mental wellness than in the past which is a silver lining of the pandemic as is the increased availability of telehealth therapy Liaw noted Requiring all hospitals to screen Medicaid patients for suicide jeopardy was also an crucial improvement because it likely caught people who otherwise wouldn t have sought help for thoughts of dying Liaw commented But it only helps if hospitals can handle the volume of patients who need materials she revealed About of patients at Children s screen positive for thoughts of suicide That s an enormous lift for providers to respond to each one Liaw declared The state healthcare department attributed much of the reduction in suicide deaths to efforts focused on mental wellness and suicide prevention including The I Matter plan which offers free therapy sessions to teens Sources of Strength a curriculum that particular schools use to build students resilience The Gun Shop Project which offers suicide prevention and safe storage information The Second Wind Fund which pays for therapy for youth at jeopardy of suicide The Follow-Up Project which has a situation specialist regularly call people discharged after a mental robustness urgency One youth suicide is too several but the decrease in youth suicide in is promising Lena Heilmann director of the state strength department s Office of Suicide Prevention disclosed in a news release We hope to build on this progress as kids head back to school where they will have more opportunities to connect with a broader framework of caring adults and their peers Colorado was able to make progress because it put one-third of the pandemic relief funds dedicated to mental healthcare toward children and teens Zaslow revealed Setting up the Behavioral Soundness Administration and allowing Medicaid to pay for the behind-the-scenes work of coordinating patients mental physical condition care will help improve the system he announced Two bills passed during the last legislative session which prevented insurance companies from limiting care for chronic mental fitness conditions and required school districts to have a plan to address cellphone use should benefit youth mental wellness over time Zaslow explained More mental physical condition providers needed Despite the progress Colorado necessities more mental vitality providers particularly those willing to take insurance Hawks explained Kids commonly face a six-month wait for outpatient mental physical condition care which people would never accept for kids with physical fitness necessities she declared Colorado demands to invest in information such as residential therapy facilities that can bridge the gap after a problem or serve kids who need more than outpatient care but haven t yet gotten sick enough to be hospitalized Liaw stated Ideally the state would also do more to protect children from the negative effects of electronic devices and social media Liaw commented The research on how device affects young brains hasn t caught up with the ever-evolving platforms that youth use but parents and providers can reasonably assume that a constant stream of often-stressful information is going to be harmful to chosen kids she announced Districts and schools vary in how they approach cellphones with specific banning them during the school day in the name of protecting students mental vitality and others leaving it up to individual teachers to police phone use during class Adults need more teaching about how to talk to young people about using social media safely and about how to have a relationship where kids are at ease talking to them Chen noted If parents can avoid getting upset over smaller things that increases the odds their kids will talk to them if something is seriously wrong he disclosed Signs of worsening mental wellness Liaw revealed she worries that youth mental fitness may be worsening again as Colorado is contemplating state budget cuts and the federal cabinet is restricting promotion for families via Medicaid and food assistance Related Articles Trump administration investigates Medicaid spending on immigrants in Colorado and other Democratic states LSD shows promise for reducing anxiety in drugmaker s midstage assessment CVS Walgreens now require prescriptions for COVID vaccines in Colorado Denver Medical expects to lose as much from Medicaid changes as it gets from new sales tax Off-duty Colorado police chief s road-rage-like confrontations prompted calls research finds Urgency room visits for mental vitality and substance use crises at Children s are up for June and July compared to the same time in even though crises typically abate when kids aren t dealing with the stress of school she reported Usually it s a pretty sleepy time in the summer she stated The number of days that kids spend in the hospital for behavioral wellbeing reasons is also up in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period in Liaw disclosed She attributed that to a combination of more patients needing care for mental wellbeing or addiction problems and to longer stays when the hospital can t find appropriate placements for kids who don t need to be there but aren t ready to go home she stated Zaslow likened the situation to hiking a er for a scant hours Depending on which way you look you could be impressed by how far you ve come or overwhelmed by what lies ahead It is a long climb to make things better he declared Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get robustness news sent straight to your inbox