Wyoming has been in an unrelenting mental health crisis for some time. Since 2018 the state has consistently taken the top spot in the nation for suicides. Having watched this trend with rising concern, I felt it was time to get to the root of the cause. For years, Wyoming has been on a path of failed attempts to figure out what to do about this. Finally, the issue has become one of importance in the minds of our leaders, and some steps are being taken to correct this problem.
But are we taking the right steps? Have we looked at the brutal reality of why Wyoming residents continue to be so distraught? You will say we are a small population, and the numbers are skewed because of it. Whether that is true or not, you cannot argue with the fact that a suicide occurs every other day in Wyoming! Forget the numbers. Let’s talk about the reasons why this is happening.
You won’t like what you read. Wyoming also holds the #2 position for incarcerating our women! In both the USA, and in the world, if every state were a country. Most of the women are mothers. What happens to the children while their mom is in jail?
General protocol is to separate the kids from the parents in times of trouble. Domestic violence and incarceration of a parent (often both happen at the same time) and the children go to whoever can take them. A child who is separated from their parent like this often carries the anxiety that goes along with it for their lifetime.
Wyoming has few tools to approach issues of mental health and low-level crimes, such as addiction, and there is little help for someone wanting to harm themselves. Addiction and self-harm take years to manifest, and Wyoming is severely lacking in treating the trauma inflicted in childhood. Our answer is to arrest and incarcerate.
Jail offers no treatment whatsoever if the high suicide rates in Wyoming’s jails are any indication. If a person enters the judicial system because of misbehavior from a mental health condition, then not only are they dealing with the legalities of their illness, but also with the isolation and lack of connectedness that is detrimental to mental and social well-being.
The eight sustainable ways we can FIX these mental health concerns suggested here are not difficult to accomplish. The hardest part will be getting people on the same page and agree to implementing such necessary changes. My intent is to provide enough documentation of my claims that you, the reader, may explore these issues on your own. Perhaps you will come to a different conclusion, or come up with your own ideas, but this is a place to start.
