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Our state has the ninth-worst suicide mortality rate in the country. According to the Department of Health & Human Services, 40% of adolescent Arkansans (grades 9-12) experience depression each year. Research by the National Alliance of Mental Illness has shown that 90% of individuals who die by suicide had some history of mental illness. Both the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention found that suicide is the second leading cause of death for Arkansans aged 15 to 34.
Though the state's high suicide rate suggests a large problem, many Arkansans lack access to mental health care. The 2017 State of Mental Health in America Report found that about 77% of the youth in Arkansas with depression are untreated. Luke Kramer, the executive director of the STARR Coalition, a nonprofit that works to find solutions to mental health problems, told About You magazine that "Arkansas is on the bottom when it comes to mental health care access."
Arkansas...