According to Mental Health America’s report “State of Mental Health in America 2023” released November 2022, Kansas ranks 51st in mental health care.

Last place.

Missouri ranked 40th. Not great either.

“An overall ranking of 39-51 indicates higher prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care. The combined scores of all 15 measures make up the overall ranking. The overall ranking includes both adult and youth measures, as well as prevalence and access to care measures.” (MHA, 2022)

The questions that MHA use to gauge how a state is doing are:

1. Adults with Any Mental Illness (AMI)

2. Adults with Substance Use Disorder in the Past Year

3. Adults with Serious Thoughts of Suicide

4. Youth with at Least One Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in the Past Year

5. Youth with Substance Use Disorder in the Past Year

6. Youth with Severe MDE

7. Adults with AMI Who Did Not Receive Treatment

8. Adults with AMI Reporting Unmet Need

9. Adults with AMI Who Are Uninsured

10. Adults Reporting 14+ Mentally Unhealthy Days a Month Who Could Not See a Doctor Due to Costs

11. Youth with MDE Who Did Not Receive Mental Health Services

12. Youth with Severe MDE Who Received Some Consistent Treatment

13. Youth with Private Insurance That Did Not Cover Mental or Emotional Problems

14. Students (Grades K+) Identified with Emotional Disturbance for an Individualized Education Program

15. Mental Health Workforce Availability

(all pages taken from the report - find the full report here.)

It couldn’t be clearer that the time for mental health care that is accessible is now. Use the donate button on our “donate page” to help give therapeutic interventions and community care to others in the area. We can take care of each other. We can help each other.