As the nation works to mitigate the public health crisis introduced by COVID-19, there is even more responsibility to ensure a fast and coordinated response to address the growing mental health crisis. The data collected from users visiting MHA Screening (at www.mhascreening.org) in 2020 is the largest dataset collected from a help-seeking population experiencing mental health conditions during COVID-19.
This report, Suicide and COVID-19: Communities in Need Across the U.S., explores the data collected from 725,949 individuals who took a depression screen (PHQ-9) in the United States in 2020 to identify states and counties in the U.S. with the greatest imminent need for suicide prevention resources following the pandemic.
This report also includes recommendations for federal, state, and local strategies to better support individuals at risk of suicide, using the MHA Screening data.