Why Montana?

We live here and care about the health of our neighbors. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among school-aged US youth (aged 10-18 years). Montana youth and young adults are 2.7 times more likely to die by suicide than their US peers (CDC). The risk increases with age. Thus, there is a clear need for enhanced detection and treatment of youth experiencing suicidality in these and similar rural regions.

 In Montana, 83% of individuals who died by suicide had a mental health disorder, primarily major depressive disorder (69%), which are treatable conditions. In 2019, 36.7% of Montana high school-aged students reported symptoms of past-year depression in the CDC’s Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance Survey. Because mental illnesses affect the young, with 50% developing illness by age 14 and 75% by age 24, youth are an especially high priority for interventions that increase mental health resiliency and reduce suicide (Kessler, 2005).

Despite considerable investment in suicide prevention, challenges remain in identifying and helping at-risk youth. Only 29.5% of US youth with past-year suicidality used mental health services and services are often limited in rural regions. For example, 60% of Montanans live in mental health care professional shortage areas, and only 13.3% of the total mental health provider need is met. Thus, identifying rural youth with elevated suicide risk and increasing their access to appropriate mental health care are still critical unmet needs of suicide prevention.