Mental Health Awareness Walk Aims to Eliminate Stigma

With suicide rates topping most other states in the nation, mental healthcare in Montana has never been more important, especially in rural areas such as Valley County.

“Montana has the third highest rate of suicide in the country. It used to be fifth, but the most recent rankings have us up to third.”

The prevalence of substance and alcohol abuse is a factor in comorbidity rates for many suicides, according to experts.

Then, substance abuse which coexists and becomes co-morbid with the mental health issues.

“But if you just narrow in on suicide, Valley County's suicide rate is 14 points higher than the state average,” Emmaline Keesee, AmeriCorps service member for the Glasgow area, told The Courier. “We could use community support. A recent survey for Valley County Youth found 18% of youth in the past year considered suicide seriously.”

Such data does not include those who chose not to self-report.

“Suicide is going up all over the country, but rural areas in particular because of more isolation. A big one is also stigma and resource availability.”

To end the stigma associated with folks with mental illness, Valley CARE Coalition is hosting the Mental Health Awareness Walk from 10:30 To 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The mile long route will begin at the Valley Event Center at 54141 US Highway 2 and end at Hoit Park at 4th Avenue South and 3rd Street South. Participants will be escorted by officers with the Glasgow Police Department.

“There is going to be a trailer if people can't walk the whole time they can ride in,” Keesee said. “And, the Valley Care Coalition is going to cover any costs for Valley Transit taking people back to the Events Center” to pick up their vehicles.

At the park, participants will be greeted by speakers who have experience with mental health. Snacks donated from local grocery stores will be served.

The Mental Health Awareness Walk takes place in May, which is Mental Health Month, represented by the color green. As such, organizers encourage participants to wear green clothing.

“The walk is trying to deal with stigma and normalizing it, growing solidarity and showing there are people in the community who do think this is an issue and want to help,” Keesee said. “I think, even if you are not chronically depressed, there is something really great about community support. Mental health exists outside of the very clear line of depressed and not depressed. It is important for the community to support the idea of that to begin with.”

Keesee noted anxiety cases are rising amongst area youths.

Getting folks the help they need without judgment has community support in Glasgow, Keesee said.

“We have done countless surveys and a lot of people in the community think mental health is an issue. It is just hard to have an opportunity to express that. It is hard to see what you can do about it, and this is a good starting point for the community members that don't really know.”

Kessee said the COVID-19 pandemic – and associated lockdowns and social isolation – has likely had a detrimental impact upon mental health in the community, but data likely won't be available to study for some time.

“I think Montana is lucky in the sense it is so remote it hasn't been hit as hard as it could have been and the community is so tight,” she said. “Some of those things are mitigated. But, the schools shut down in the spring and that had some impact. Some students didn't come back to school. Some are still not attending in person and that contributes to the isolation that is already a problem. Keeping up and getting good grades at school also correlates with mental health, and remote learning for some students was a problem.”

For more information about the event or mental health resources, visit valleycarecoalition.com.