By Mara O'Malley for Kent State News Lab.
Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

According to the Ohio Department of Aging's Summary Assessment of Older Adults, deaths by suicide among adults ages 60 and older have increased by 40% in the last decade.

The spike is particularly concentrated among men aged 85 and older. At this point, the suicide rate of Ohio men age 85 and older is four times higher than the nation's overall suicide rate.

The Ohio Department of Aging has found that adults ages 60 and over have high rates of depression. Coleman Health Services, a nonprofit that provides behavioral and mental health services in 10 Ohio counties, works with some of those patients.

"It's an illness. it can be effectively treated," said Brian Welsh, chief medical officer at Coleman Health Services. "When you can't live your life they way you need to live it - because you don't get out of bed, you can't face the day and you withdraw from others or you have suicidal thoughts and you're hopeless - then you're not living the life where you need to."

Depression can be particularly hard on older adults who have experienced loss, Welsh said.

"As you get older, you start having more and more losses. Losses can be physical losses or social losses," Welsh said. "Along with that comes the physical issues that sometimes happen with decline, which could include things like mobility, arthritis, having increased issues with pain."

Coleman Health Services is also working to include more accessible services for the older population in case mobility issues are causing them to not come and seek help.

Last year, three older adults died by suicide in Portage County, said Karyn Kravetz, the associate director of the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board. In general, Kravetz said, they faced health challenges or chronic illnesses.

Beyond that, more than half of gun-related deaths in the U.S. are deaths by suicide, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control.

"Our last survey shows that 48% of the people in Portage County own firearms," Kravetz said. "When you have firearms in your home and you have access to lethal means, that can make that impulsive decision happen a lot faster."

The Mental Health and Recovery Board now offers a training every few weeks about signs of suicidal ideation.

"We're trying to up our suicide prevention training, to reach out to the different community groups," said Kravetz. She hopes that the more people they can train, the more people will be able to respond to those signs.

The Ohio Department of Aging worked with the Health Policy Institute of Ohio to assess the causes of the 40% spike in suicide rates among people 60 and older. The key challenges they noted were the conditions in which people live and the access they have to important resources around them.

Improving the mental health and well-being of older Ohioans requires a multifaceted approach. Older adults are also at risk of scams and elder abuse, may experience social isolation and may be vulnerable to disorders like hoarding.

Older adults sometimes feel a bond with someone who is trying to scam them and they fall into the trap due to loneliness, explained Richard Meeker, a therapist who works with Area Agency on Aging District 5. If someone calls them claiming to be from the IRS and demanding bank information, older adults may experience anxiety or panic and immediately answer instead of taking a second to consider who may be on the other end.

"We're seeing a lot of scams now being perpetrated on an emotional level with individuals," Meeker said."I talked about social isolation - if I've lost a spouse, I don't have a lot of contact with family, maybe, or friends, I'm becoming more withdrawn, I have a craving for human attention, I have someone that has shown an interest."

Empowering older adults and giving them some control back over their life is one of the most important things we can do, Meeker said. Area Agency on Aging helps to do that by providing its clients with transportation, helping them get caregivers, and getting them to come out of the house.

"We change all the time in life as decades continue to go by," Meeker said. "But one of the things that can be really impressive is, with older adults, they have the ability to adapt, to be able to overcome things. And through that adaptation they can be empowered."


Mara O'Malley wrote this article for Kent State News Lab. This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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Indiana families are preparing kids for back-to-school season, and mental-health experts say emotional readiness is just as important as school supplies.

Beth Trammell, a psychologist and professor at Indiana University East, said kids often carry anxiety into the new school year. She encouraged parents to help children identify those fears.

"We as parents or caregivers think, 'Don't worry, or don't stress.' Instead, we might want to say, 'OK, well, let's talk about what it is you're worried about. What is the worst thing you think could happen?' If we draw it out of them," she said, "it may give them space to kind of let that out."

Helping kids feel heard can reduce stress. But experts also urge balance, keeping mornings calm, easing into routines, and not overloading schedules the first few weeks.

Nicole Brady, chief medical officer at UnitedHealthcare, said mental-health support should remain a priority throughout the year.

"Though we want our kids to be involved in activities and be social," she said, "we have to watch their academic performance, their mood, those sleep patterns, and making sure that those are staying healthy."

Brady added that parents should talk regularly with kids, model healthy coping and seek help early if warning signs appear.


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After a legislative session which opened doors to expand mental health care services across Montana, a state commission said it is considering the Billings area to build the state's second forensic facility.

For people involved in Montana's justice system whom a judge has deemed not mentally fit for their own defense, there are 53 beds in the state's only forensic facility in Galen. The daily waitlist hovers at about 100 people.

Matt Kuntz, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Montana, said it is not meeting the immense need.

"It's just a really bad situation for the people that are in the jails, for the people that are caring for them, for the taxpayers," Kuntz outlined. "It just doesn't work for anybody."

At a recent commission meeting, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Director Charlie Brereton said the state is identifying a location for a new facility. The department received nearly $27 million from the state in April to fund project planning.

Kuntz noted the Montana Legislature passed many bills this session centered on mental health care.

"We really were able to get big wins in access to outpatient care, access to crisis care and for people in need of forensic hospital," Kuntz explained. "Overall, it was really an amazing legislative session for Montanans with mental health conditions."

Other mental health legislation will boost school-based services, youth in residential care, the state's 988 crisis line and certified community behavioral health clinics.


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The California Parent and Youth Helpline is in serious jeopardy after Gov. Gavin Newsom cut it from the new state budget, saying the money was needed to support medical services.

Advocates said they are puzzled because the governor has championed the helpline for years, and lawmakers approved $3 million from a separate fund dedicated to mental health, which does not affect the deficit.

Lisa Pion-Berlin, president and CEO of the nonprofit Parents Anonymous, which runs the helpline, said it is still operating 24/7, for now.

"We're holding on for the next month or so," Pion-Berlin pointed out. "But we need the state to step up, or one of these well-off philanthropists who cares about having that immediate help for emotional support, which is so vital."

Advocates are hoping funding can be restored via a budget trailer bill in the next few weeks. People can call or text and reach the helpline's trained counselors at 877-427-2736. The free helpline has connected with more than 120,000 people since its inception five years ago, and the website CAParentYouthHelpline.org has reached a million more.

Pion-Berlin noted a study in the Journal of Technology in Human Services found a call to the helpline can quickly ease parents' suffering and feelings of isolation.

"The research said that 85% of the callers in less than 30 minutes feel more positive, more hopeful and able to address their issues," Pion-Berlin reported. "There is no other service or pill I know that can do that in 30 minutes or less."

Parents Anonymous also offers free weekly support groups to steer parents and kids through emotional crises of all kinds.