Observing Mental Health Awareness Month in Logan County

[May 16, 2023] 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, created to educate the public and provide support to people with mental illness and their loved ones.

Mental health was identified as a top health concern for Logan County residents in the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment. According to the Illinois Youth Survey:

**42% of eighth-graders, 45% of tenth-graders and 52% of 12th-graders in Logan County felt so sad or hopeless for two weeks or more that they stopped doing some usual activities.

**22% of tenth-graders and 27% of 12th-graders in Logan County have seriously considered attempting suicide.

Mental health is a concern for adults in Logan County as well. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 15% of the Medicare population in Logan County has been diagnosed with depression (includes people 65 or older, as well as those under 65 with certain disabilities or end-stage renal disease).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2020, 12.8% of adults in Logan County stated that their mental health was not good 14 or more days in the past month. The age-adjusted death rate due to suicide in Logan County is 20.8 deaths per 100,000 population, which is higher than the national average.

“These statistics show how essential mental health services are in Logan County and across central Illinois,” said Diana Knaebe, president of Memorial Behavioral Health. “Treatment can be life-changing. If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out for help.”

One way to obtain help is to call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is available 24/7, including holidays, for people experiencing a mental health crisis. (The line is answered by crisis counselors from Memorial Behavioral Health from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.) Veterans who call 988 will be connected with a crisis counselor who is also a veteran. The 988 hotline provides live crisis center calling services in English and Spanish and uses Language Line Solutions to provide translation services in more than 250 additional languages.

[Anne Davis]