{"id":2449100,"date":"2019-09-24T18:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T00:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/longevity-project-mental-health-connected-to-culture-altitude-of-mountain-communities\/"},"modified":"2019-09-24T18:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T00:56:00","slug":"longevity-project-mental-health-connected-to-culture-altitude-of-mountain-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/longevity-project-mental-health-connected-to-culture-altitude-of-mountain-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Longevity Project: Mental health connected to culture, altitude of mountain communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jose Saez struggled with his mental health, but after getting help Saez is now helping others as a peer specialist for the Pitkin Area Co-Respoder Team, or PACT, which aims to decriminalize mental illness and help people get connected with the resources they need before a mental health challenge becomes a crisis.<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Soon after Jose Saez moved to the Aspen area four years ago, his well-being took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n

Convinced to relocate to the Roaring Fork Valley by a friend he went into business with, Saez said life was good for a little bit. About a year-and-a-half into the partnership, the business crumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wound up homeless with $300 bucks in my pocket, bought a $300 car and that\u2019s how the saga started, I guess,\u201d Saez said. \u201cThis is one of the most beautiful places in the world but if you\u2019re not ready for what comes with that beauty, you find yourself in a world of hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an upstairs office of the Pitkin County Health and Human Services building, Saez recalled what it was like to go from a stable to unstable mental, financial and housing situation so quickly while Jessica Beaulieu, mental health program administrator for the county, listened.<\/p>\n

Now, just a few years later, Saez is working as the Pitkin Area Co-Responder Team peer specialist, helping decriminalize mental illness and getting people in the Aspen area get connected with the mental health resources they need to get back on their feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s perfect. I\u2019m giving back to where I once took from,\u201d Saez said. \u201cI\u2019ve been through the mental health, I\u2019ve been through the addiction, I\u2019ve been through the anger and the pride, so my goal is to break down those barriers and show you that you don\u2019t have to go through what you\u2019re going through, that you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the most recent Regional Community Health Assessment<\/a>\u2014 conducted to help guide public health initiatives in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties from 2018-2022 \u2014 people with higher incomes or personal wealth, more years of education, and who live in healthy and safe environments also have longer life expectancies and better overall health outcomes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Aspen Times, in conjunction with our sister papers the Steamboat Pilot & Today and Summit Daily, is publishing a four-part series on living and thriving in the mountains. The weekly \u201cLongevity Project: Elevate Your Life\u201d series in September will culminate Oct. 1 with a speaker and panel discussion in Aspen.Elevate your life series<\/strong>Part 1:<\/strong> A conversation with Mike Libecki<\/a>, National Geographic explorerPart 2:<\/strong> How top-level athletes thrive<\/a> at altitudePart 3:<\/strong> Examining mental wellness at altitudePart 4:<\/strong> General effects of life at 8,000-plus feet<\/p>\n

In Pitkin County, assessment statistics show locals are set up for longevity: The median family income is over $20,000 more than the state\u2019s, the percentage of adults who have graduated college is higher than surrounding counties and Pitkin County is considered as having a generally safe, healthy environment.<\/p>\n

But an aspect of health and longevity across the region not up to par is mental well-being and hygiene. Eagle, Garfield and Pitkin county locals identified mental health as the top health concern in their communities and as lacking for a myriad of reasons, including access to services, lifestyle and the stigma surrounding mental health.<\/p>\n

However, for local mental health officials like Beaulieu and Saez, there is one attainable solution: increasing connectivity within communities and sparking conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial support networks are key in suicide prevention and emotional, social and psychological health,\u201d Beaulieu said. She went on to quote the recent regional health assessment, which states 19 percent of the population across Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties reported not having adequate social or emotional support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe attribute this predominately to the tourism culture, which really changes the way people work and live,\u201d Beaulieu said. \u201cIt\u2019s more difficult to build that (support) network within your immediate environment because people are hustling constantly to figure out a way to be in this beautiful place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Aspen, Snowmass and the surrounding communities are tourism hot spots, much of the local workforce is rooted in arts, entertainment, recreation and hospitality. Roughly 40 percent of people working in Aspen-Snowmass are employed within these tourism-related industries, and many of these positions are seasonal, leaving gaps in employment for people looking to live in the valley year-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often see with our seasonal workers that they are riding high all season but then they lose their employee housing when they lose their job at the ski mountain or at a restaurant or wherever, and it\u2019s like \u2018Now what?\u2019 \u201d Beaulieu said.<\/p>\n

In Pitkin County, about 10 percent of the population had a depressive diagnosis between 2013 and 2015, according to the recent regional health assessment. In 2017, the region had a suicide rate of 18.6 per 100,000 people, which is lower than the state\u2019s average rate of 20.3 but higher than the national average of 14.0.<\/p>\n

But higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide aren\u2019t unique to Pitkin County or the state of Colorado. Research shows a strong correlation between living in higher altitude communities in states across the western United States and experiencing mental health challenges.<\/p>\n

EXPLORING ALTITUDE\u2019S ROLE IN MENTAL HEALTH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brent Kious, a psychiatrist with University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City, is one of the researchers who have studied the link between living at high altitude and major depressive disorder, anxiety and suicide.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kious said data suggests suicide and depression are associated with altitude, noting that suicide rates start to increase more dramatically around 2,000 to 2,500 feet of elevation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t necessarily imply that the affect of altitude at that height starts to outweigh the impact of other socio-demographic or socioeconomic factors,\u201d Kious emphasized.<\/p>\n

Other factors aside, Kious said the reason people living at higher altitudes have a higher risk of depression, anxiety or death by suicide is due to less oxygen reaching the brain. This lack of adequate oxygen, or hypoxia, can alter the brain\u2019s ability to store or transport energy and to synthesize serotonin, the neurotransmitter that\u2019s most often implicated in depression, Kious said.<\/p>\n

For Kious and other researchers, this strong association between altitude and both depression and suicide rates highlights what\u2019s known as the \u201cparadise paradox.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think although we\u2019ve seen this consistent association with suicide rates and some evidence that moving to higher altitude increases the risk of depression, we also know that mountain communities tend to report higher satisfaction rates with life in general than elsewhere,\u201d Kious said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I make sense of that is I think maybe living at altitude makes for a more extreme mood, whatever you\u2019re prone to having,\u201d Kious continued. \u201cMaybe moving to altitude will tend to make your natural inclinations greater.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the local level, Beaulieu and Saez have seen that paradox play out when accessing mental health resources, too.<\/p>\n

They feel that because Aspen area locals know they are living in \u201cparadise,\u201d when a mental health challenge arises they may feel they don\u2019t have a right to complain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve witnessed it in all ages of people in this valley where there\u2019s this idea that I\u2019m living the dream, how can I complain?\u201d Bealieu said. \u201cBut I also think people don\u2019t seek out services because of the stigma around mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRYING TO BRIDGE THE GAP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Beaulieu, Christina King, local mental health clinician and founder of the Aspen Strong nonprofit<\/a>, sees a lack of willingness and education on how to talk about mental illness and mental health challenges as a major barrier to good mental hygiene, locally and nationally.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why King said she started Aspen Strong, which aims not to be another mental health provider but a connector to all of the resources available in the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the midst of working in this arena, I really began to notice the lack of community centered approach in addressing the issues behind mental health and suicide,\u201d said King, who runs her own private counseling and consulting practice. \u201cI felt there was a lot of individualization and thought, \u2018Why are we not all trying to work together?\u2019 That\u2019s where Aspen Strong came in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through Aspen Strong, King has aimed to build bridges between the various mental health resources, such as private practitioners, Mind Springs Health<\/a> and the Aspen Hope Center.<\/a><\/p>\n

King has worked to educate locals on how to have conversations about mental health that associate the term more with maintaining hygiene versus curing illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like the flu, you\u2019re gonna feel sad sometimes, you\u2019re gonna experience grief, you\u2019re gonna experience anxiety and if you\u2019re not checking up on your mental hygiene, then what happens?\u201d King said. \u201cIt\u2019s like what are we doing to floss our brain and be equipped with the tools to work through some of the issues that come our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

King, Beaulideau and other mental health professionals throughout Pitkin County are working to change the way locals think of and talk about mental health by sparking these conversations and through programs such as PACT, which aims to connect people with the resources they need to address their mental hygiene before a challenge becomes a crisis.<\/p>\n

Although the Aspen area has a long way to go, King, Beaulideau and Saez feel the culture around mental health is changing for the better, but feel it will take the efforts of the entire community to create a more proactive approach to maintaining mental well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t care if you live in a $10 million mansion, we don\u2019t care if you\u2019re sleeping under that tree out there, we\u2019re going to meet you where you\u2019re at. To me, that\u2019s really bridging a big gap,\u201d Saez said. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to take everybody coming together saying it\u2019s OK to be sick, it\u2019s OK to not feel like a million bucks today, to make a real difference. It has to be a whole community thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jose Saez struggled with his mental health, but after getting help Saez is now helping others as a peer specialist for the Pitkin Area Co-Respoder Team, or PACT, which aims to decriminalize mental illness and help people get connected with the resources they need before a mental health challenge becomes a crisis.Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 06:14:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}