Our country is in a mental health crisis. Suicide rates were 30% higher in 2020 than 2000. (Center for Disease Control)
Door County is no exception. In fact, rural communities generally experience higher rates of mental illness and suicide. Here in Door County, we have a suicide rate of 20 per 100,000 while the US rate is significantly less at 14 per 100,000. (2023 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps)
The main culprits are lack of services and isolation. In Door County, we have one mental health provider to 740 residents; that’s about twice as many people to provider ratio as the US average, 340:1. (2023 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps)
According to the 2021 Door County Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 50% of high schoolers and 48% of middle schoolers are reporting anxiety and 30% of high schoolers and 29% of middle schoolers are reporting depression.
We saw a spike in teen self-harm and suicide contemplation in 2021.
We see a need to grow a more resilient country and that happens one community at a time. As we have a distinct issue of lack of providers, this type of programming-an educational summit-is a proactive approach to instilling knowledge and skills in our community members to overcome their own trauma and be resilient as well as to teach and empower those skills in others.
