Watch the discussion live at 6 p.m. here.

They call it the Paradise Paradox.

Mountain and rural communities have significantly higher rates of suicide and behavioral health issues compared to the national average, according to Lilian Tenney of the Colorado School for Public Health.

And the highest rates of suicide in the country are all in the Rocky Mountain states, earning them the moniker the Suicide Belt.

With the allure of the West’s landscapes and outdoor lifestyles often comes a host of hidden realities including isolation, lack of mental health care, a hard partying culture that can exacerbate mental illness, and financial stressors because such places have become so expensive to live in, Tenney says.

The worker bees in these communities often face a tough life course, said Tenney. “Similar to the professional skier — the transient populations are often young and attracted to extreme sports. The “high” wears off after time. Skiing doesn’t pay the bills. And the thrill seeker gets behind in earning and often starts to question their purpose if they can’t do what they’ve always loved to do as a result of injury or mental health. From there it can be a downward spiral.”

National Geographic writer Kelly McMillan coined a term for the seemingly paradoxical mental health struggles of those living in “paradise places,” calling it the “Paradise Paradox.”

Slowly and surely, though, mountain towns are trying to bring their mental health challenge out in the light and tackle them head on.

“Even though one in five Americans is estimated to suffer from mental health illness, talk about mental health in the rural West remains muted,” David Marston, published of Writers on the Range. Marston, who is bipolar, wants to change that.

As a first step in Durango, Writers on the Range and the Colorado Springs Gazette are cosponsoring “A Community Conversation on Compassion, Action, and Hope in Durango.”

La Plata County Commissioner and former social worker Marsha Porter-Norton will be the keynote speaker.

Her talk will describe the compassionate outreach for mental health happening in Durango and how the county will use opioid settlement money, $1.8 million annually for 18 years, as a down payment on an inpatient treatment facility for addiction and mental health.

The town hall will be held Thursday, May 15, at 6 p.m. at the Fort Lewis Innovation Center at Main Mall, 835 Main, 2nd floor, Suite 225, Colorado 81301.

The talk, one of a series of townhalls on mental health the Gazette wand Writers will be cosponsoring in mountain towns this year, will be livestreamed here.

Please RSVP here if you’d like to attend in person.

“Because so many of us live with it, mental illness needs to be acknowledged, treated and talked about,” Marston wrote recently. “I could have saved so much time, energy and pain by seeking the right kind of help earlier. How much healthier we would be if we treated mental illness the way we treat any other illness—with openness and compassion.”