Healthy Lincoln County recently released findings from an assessment of Lincoln County’s top-ranked health issues: substance use and mental health disorders. The report’s release coincides with National Mental Health Awareness Month, an annual event to fight stigma, provide support, and educate the public about mental health.

During interviews and community forums, county residents identified several major barriers to prevention and treatment for alcohol and drug use as well as mental health disorders. At the top of the list was cost, followed by access to services, including transportation to distant treatment facilities. Stigma and shame were also listed as impeding community support for prevention and treatment of these disorders, and a public awareness campaign was listed as a possible next step to address this barrier.

According to the 2015 Maine Shared Community Health Assessment by the Maine Shared Health Needs Assessment and Planning Process (SHNAPP), alcohol and drug abuse (71 percent) and mental health (59 percent) were identified major or critical problems in Lincoln County.

Data supports these findings:

In 2011, 16.7 percent of adults in Lincoln County identified at being at risk for binge drinking.

In 2015, 18.5 percent of high school students admitted using alcohol in the past 30 days and 17.8 percent admitted to using marijuana.

In 2011, nearly 9 percent of adults in Lincoln County screened positive for symptoms of depression, and 26.3 percent were told by a health care provider that they had depression.

In 2013, 25.9 percent of Lincoln County high school students said they were sad/hopeless for two weeks in a row and 14.6 percent seriously considered suicide.

As one of the most rural counties in the state, addressing substance use and mental health in Lincoln County can be particularly challenging. The county is a designated health professional shortage area and there is a limited network of essential services to treat mental health and substance use disorders.

According to Kate Marone, Director of Healthy Lincoln County, “Because we are in a rural county, it is even more important that we continue to work together to strengthen the substance use and mental health prevention and treatment infrastructure. We have so many strong partners throughout Lincoln County who are already working together, and this report can energize our collaboration to break down those real and perceived barriers to prevention and treatment, including the stigma often associated with mental health and substance use.”

Healthy Lincoln County (HLC) is a non-profit, community health organization that brings together partners to ensure the residents of Lincoln County have equitable access to health. For more information on HLC, and to view the entire report, visit www.HealthyLincolnCounty.org.

About the report, “Qualitative Assessment of Substance Use and Mental Health Services and Needs in Lincoln County, Maine,” all of the qualitative data presented in this report was collected by HLC staff during the winter and spring of 2016. Funding source: Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF).