Mental health issues are rarely visible and in Colorado, the suicide rate in 2019 was 22.1 per 100,000 people, compared with an average of 13.1 for the entire country.
Locally, 15 percent of teenagers ages 12 to 17 and 8.5 percent of adults reported having a major depressive episode during that same year. Little over 15 percent of residents said they had poor mental health and the outbreak of COVID-19 seemed to make things worse.
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has had a significant affect on everything, including mental health, not only in Colorado but the whole country. It’s triggered “anxiety and depression, ballooned fears, and forced us to isolate ourselves from one another.” Kids have missed out on major developmental milestones while adults lost their jobs and businesses