Industry News
For many, the hearing of the phrase “ski town” brings to mind mental images of dramatic mountains blanketed in white, warm evenings in front of a fireplace, and stretched out natural landscapes, unbound by the constrictions of concrete high-rises. Underneath this idyllic image though, a darker reality often exists.
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For years, mountain communities have experienced higher rates of mental health struggles when compared to the national baseline. This disparity has been well documented, and in some communities suicide rates are 1.3 times higher than the national average, along with 50 percent higher rates of alcohol-induced deaths. While mental health is complex, experts point to a mix of social isolation, financial stressors, and the instability of seasonal work as potential causes for these struggles, all exacerbated by a lack of access to mental health providers and resources in these geographically isolated communities.
While research, documentaries like The Paradise Paradox, and community events have brought greater attention to this troubling trend, addressing mental health in mountain towns remains an ongoing, collective effort. At the end of November, another step was taken towards the goal of combatting the hidden danger of mental health struggles in mountain communities, as the Katz Amsterdam Foundation invested $3.2 million into mental health resources in mountain communities across the United States. Distributing these funds into areas such as North Tahoe in California, Summit and Eagle counties in Colorado, Big Sky, Montana, and more, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation’s commitment to mental health support looks to uplift some of the most iconic mountain areas in the United States, offsetting some of the barriers these regions have historically faced in accessing mental health care.
This investment is the most recent in a long line of commitment from the Katz Amsterdam Foundation to support strengthening mountain communities over the past decade, and focuses on a few concrete initiatives for each community, specific to the most prominent needs. These range from supporting substance use treatment initiatives to increasing access to bilingual health providers, with the common denominator being clearly articulated: more mental health resources to serve a broader range of community members.
Mental health struggles and their myriad of manifestations will likely never have a silver bullet cure. The Katz Amsterdam Foundation’s investment in long-term, locally targeted resources, however, is a step in the right direction towards closing the gap, and making long winter nights a little bit brighter.
