Several staggering statistics on mental health include one in four American adults will have mental illness in their life, 30% of Coloradans need mental health or substance abuse care, and a high suicide rate in Colorado with about 20 people committing suicide per 100,000 population. Additionally, 506 people committed suicide in Larimer County last year.
The Mental Health Informational Forum holds bi-monthly classes at the Poudre River Public Library District in Fort Collins, supported by the Health District of Larimer County and Fort Collins Human Relations Commission. The June 10th class discussed the major issues and community resources on mental health in Northern Colorado. Speaker Lin Wilder (pictured above) discussed the current issues and challenges of mental health affecting millions of Americans.
Lin discussed the stigma and misinformation leading to mental health issues, difficulty in recognizing the symptoms, increasing community awareness through educational classes, identifying and treating mental health, fragmented care by multiple agencies and mental health facilities, affordable treatment such as the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA), gaps in the continuum of care services such as detox centers within Larimer County, the need to provide better treatment and prescriptions to patients, and the increasing suicide rate.
There is NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), a support group in Larimer and other counties across the United States to help people cope with mental health problems. There are several local professional organizations such as Touchstone Health Partners, Connections, Colorado 211, and Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Contact the Health District at 970-224-5209 for help with mental health issues. The next class on mental health is August 12 and discusses suicide prevention. Visit the library’s website at www.poudrelibraries.org for future mental health classes.
Lin Wilder is a licensed professional psychologist and Director of the Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Partnership and a Director with the Health District of Larimer County.