The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
All-time high suicide rate in 2024
By Katherine Nettles
It has been a very difficult year for some community members in the Gunnison Valley, as the number of people who have taken their own lives in 2024 has reached a record high over the entire county’s known history. CB State of Mind, a nonprofit organization and self-described “mental wellness connection” that provides support to community members through a network of mental healthcare providers, has also connected a record number of people to therapists this year through their scholarship program. Their signature green lights are lighting up Elk Avenue’s lampposts this holiday season and their luminarias lit up neighborhood streets during Winter Solstice. The hope is to send a message of understanding, solidarity and support to anyone who needs it—year-round.
Tough statistics
Gunnison County coroner Michael Barnes has confirmed that more people in the valley have died by suicide this year than any year previous.
“We have had 12 [suicides] this year, which is the most ever in the county,” said Barnes in an email to the Crested Butte News this month. “Based on our population of approximately 17,000, that equates to a per capita rate of 70 per 100,000.”
The national rate is 14 per 100,000, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a federal resource center funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Barnes has kept close records of the somber statistics in 2024, including each person’s age, gender, area of residence and cause of death. Ten of the victims this year have been male, and two female; they have occurred in Gunnison, Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte and Marble. They have ranged in age from 22 years old to 72 years old, and almost every decade in between. Their deaths have occurred every month of the year from January through October.
According to the coroner’s statistics, the only other year during which these numbers have reached double digits was in 2016, when there were 10 suicides. In 2023, there were eight and in 2022 there were three.
While no one expert can say why 2024 has seen such a startling shift, statistically these rates went up from 2010 to 2021 across the U.S., for males and in rural areas in particular.
Suicide prevention and mental wellness
CB SOM executive director Meghan Dougherty says her organization’s focus is largely to prevent as many of these tragedies as possible and provide the connections and support people need in the valley.
“Although our mission is suicide prevention, our efforts have expanded to promoting wellness, connecting people to each other and connecting community members to resources,” she says. CB SOM is working to spread the word and get people help when they need it through awareness campaigns such as the solstice luminarias and the Green Light Campaign during Gunnison Valley Mental Health Awareness Month in April.
Beyond the holidays, CB SOM hosts a broad and increasing range of free community connection events from movies and yoga classes to dance and meditation classes, jam sessions, silent book clubs and a Sober Ski Free. A new program in 2024 called Brothers Helping Brothers meets twice monthly and the free “Dude Talk Dinners” they host at Tully’s and The Dive have been very well attended by as many as 30 males at a time.
CB SOM just finished their annual winter online auction, which helps support their mission into the next year. “Our auction went really well, it’s our biggest fundraiser because we don’t do big events,” says Dougherty. “And we have new supporters showing up.”
Record demand for services
The fundraiser helps support the nonprofit’s rapidly growing Therapy Scholarship Program for uninsured or underinsured clients. CB SOM’s request for scholarship services this year has increased by 37%.
“It puts a lot of pressure on CB SOM to fill that gap,” says Dougherty. “We actually reached our target budget for the scholarships we had to offer in October (120 scholarships), but we continue to support anyone who reaches out.”
CB SOM had awarded about 140 scholarships as of early December.
“It’s the most ever,” says Dougherty.
She speculates that this increase may be in part a positive sign that awareness of their services and programs is growing.
“The Therapy Scholarship Program is catching on, we’re doing a lot of awareness building and conversations in the community. I would say it’s the success of breaking down the stigma for people to reach out and ask for help,” says Dougherty.
“Also, a lot of people lost Medicaid last year who had been on it through COVID. That really impacted people’s need. It’s that population in our community who really struggles—their income is not low enough for state and federal support, but they do not meet the self-sufficiency standard.”
Gunnison County did a study in recent years to determine self-sufficiency levels in the county, which takes into account people’s incomes, cost of living, childcare and ability to meet basic needs. “More than half of our community is living below the self-sufficiency standard,” Dougherty says. “So people are leaning more on those other resources to help them meet those needs.”
According to a survey CB SOM conducted in 2024, and of course in light of the tragic loss of life in 2024, Dougherty says there is still work to do. “Over a third of the community members surveyed reported feeling isolated and lonely, and more than half have experienced three or more poor mental health days in the past 30 days,” she summarizes.
Therapy scholarship applicants commonly cite anxiety, depression, life transition stressors, relationship concerns, and desire to explore or maintain substance use reduction or sobriety as their reasons for reaching out.
Last, Dougherty says getting a list of providers who are a good fit and accepting new clients is a constant effort. “We’re always looking for more providers. And we are definitely in need of providers who accept private health insurance.”
Other needs are counseling providers who hold weekend and evening hours to accommodate people’s work schedules, she says. “And we are always looking to further reduce stigmas and cultivate more community member stories we can share to normalize talking about mental health and having it resonate. From the service worker or parent to construction worker, to a transient seasonal worker and seasoned ski bum, we want to hear their stories.”
While CB SOM continues to focus on its array of community building events and its Therapy Scholarship Program, Dougherty has ideas for other ways to help people in 2025 and beyond. She is big on collaboration. “We’re not in this alone. CB SOM is very focused in ensuring we are impacting our community in a coordinated plan across the whole spectrum of needs,” she says of the various mental healthcare providers and systems she works with. “We are all meeting with each other constantly, talking about what we are doing and making sure not to duplicate efforts,” she says.
“We got a grant to expand community support events, so we will have one per month in CB, Gunnison, and one specifically for the Hispanic community that are all free, open and substance-free,” Dougherty says. She is searching for a space for people to find new connections and hopefully get some mental health support in a casual social atmosphere.
“Our community really wants more organic, casual spaces to convene,” she says. “And I would love to create a space where our community can honor and memorialize those we have lost.”
Dougherty reflects on the record numbers of people helped this year, and what more can come. “To be a nonprofit born out of concerned community members is truly grassroots. Mental health looks different for everybody, and everybody’s story is different. We’re here to support everyone,” she says.
More information about mental wellness resources, events, getting involved with CB SOM and making donations can be found at cbstateofmind.org and they can be found on Instagram with seasonal depression tips, inspirational ideas and event updates at cb_state_of_mind.
