2024 | Mental Health in NH Newsletter

The start of summer heralds a time of warmth, growth, and endless possibilities. As Henry James once said, "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

With longer days and balmy evenings, the season beckons us to embrace leisure and adventure, to soak up the sun's rays and revel in the simple joys of life. It's a time for making memories, cherishing friendships, and finding solace in the beauty of nature. As we step into summer's embrace, let us be reminded of its timeless allure and the magic it brings to our lives.

Table of Contents:

• Legislative Update by The Dupont Group
• May Op-ed
• News & Events Around NH and Mental Health
• Video Testimonials for Mental Health Awareness Month
• Podcast from American Camp Association/ New England 

Legislative Update by The Dupont Group 

The 2024 session is coming to an end with House and Senate actions now complete on the bulk of a record number 1300 bills introduced in January. Now House-Senate committees of conference will decide the remaining bills where there were differences of opinion between the two bodies. Conferees must complete their work by June 6th; the House and Senate will then meet to act on the conference committee reports on June 13^th.

CBHA has a key piece of legislation still in play: HB 1236, establishing a pilot recruitment and retention program within the department of health and human services and relative to the income eligibility for "in and out medical assistance" under the state Medicaid plan, is in a committee of conference named on May 30^th. The section of the bill addressing the In and Out Medical Assistance Program was added by the Senate, on the urging of the Department of Health and Human Services and CBHA. Some members of the House were unaware of the genesis of the bill so chose to non-concur with the Senate version. We are working with the House and Senate leadership and members of the conference committee to move this forward.

Also to be decided in committees of conference over the next week are HB 1633, the cannabis legalization bill.

HB 1028, relative to the definition of mental illness, was amended by the Senate to establish a commission to study the delivery of behavioral crisis services to individuals with mental illness with an impairment primarily caused by intellectual disability. CBHA is named as a member of the commission and will be working with legislators and stakeholders before November 1^st to reach consensus on this complex issue.

The session began with 30 anti-LGBTQ bills which Inclusive NH – comprised of CBHA, Waypoint, New Futures, Bi-State Primary Care, NH Nurse Practitioners Association, NH Medical Society, NAMI-NH and others – have vigorously opposed. There are now only 4 of these bills remaining, all on their way to the Governor’s desk. There are efforts now by Inclusive NH members to reach out to the Governor to request him to veto these bills:

HB 396, to require a person to attain the age of majority for genital gender reassignment surgery.

HB 619, to require a person to attain the age of majority for genital gender reassignment surgery.

HB 1205, relative to women’s sports.

HB 1312, requiring parental notification of student health or well-being and certain curricula by school districts.

Passed this session, albeit with amendments, were these two CBHA priority bills:  SB 403, the health care workforce bill;  and SB 411, establishing a committee to study emergency mental health services for persons 21 years of age and younger in New Hampshire. Stalled in the Senate was SB 410-FN, making appropriations to the department of health and human services to support community and transitional housing through community mental health centers. Next year is a budget year and while we are still months away from the fall elections, work on the spending plan begins in August, when DHHS and all state agencies begin to prepare their budget requests to the Governor.

Opinion: Bode Miller film, The Paradise Paradox, highlights mental health struggles in ski towns

Concord Monitor| Authored by Jim Doremus, Chair of the board at Riverbend Community Mental Health.

Mental health is a serious concern in every corner of the Granite State, but a relatively hidden problem is the high incidence of depression, anxiety and suicide in resort areas and ski towns.

We need to applaud Bode Miller, the World Cup and Olympic gold medal-winning skier who grew up in Franconia, for helping produce a documentary highlighting this issue: “The Paradise Paradox.” The film, which has its New Hampshire premiere on May 14 at Red River Theatres in Concord, profiles Western ski towns, but there are many parallels to the same problems in ski towns in the Northeast and right here in New Hampshire.

It is refreshing that Bode Miller, with his celebrity status and influence, would now be amplifying the pervasive issue of mental health. In 2020, he appeared with other athletes in HBO’s “The Weight of Gold,” a documentary about the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes face.

Bode said in an interview at the time of that film’s release, “Everything is focused on the physical side and it leaves them feeling very exposed on the emotional and mental state.” The production team behind “The Weight of Gold” brought forward that conversation by teaming with Bode to produce “The Paradise Paradox.”

While “The Weight of Gold” focused on the stress that elite athletes experience, this new film casts a wider net and addresses a broader demographic: regular working people in traditionally wealthy ski towns. The wealth gap in resort towns is striking, as highlighted in the film and as we see here in the North Country of New Hampshire, and there is no doubt that this class disparity contributes to mental illness and substance use disorders.The affluent continue to move here to live or buy second homes, drawn to New Hampshire’s beautiful scenery, unspoiled wilderness areas, winter sports and recreation. This movement became even more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people fled more populated areas and moved north, either temporarily or permanently.

With our tourism-dependent economy, the state welcomes visitors and new residents, but there are many people living and working in these resort towns who suffer from stress, economic struggles and isolation. The adrenaline-fueled culture of winter sports also connects to substance abuse. These are all contributors to the need for more mental health services that are already scarce in rural areas.

In Colorado, where “The Paradise Paradox” was first screened last year and continues to be shown, the huge increase in suicides in ski towns over the last decade was raised at a public forum where the film was discussed; Miller cited the need for more suicide prevention efforts. A downhill skiing culture fueled by living on the edge and partying are other factors cited as contributors to the epidemic of mental health problems in resort areas and ski towns.

Riverbend Community Mental Health Center, which is sponsoring the premiere New Hampshire screening of “The Paradise Paradox,” has an all-star line-up of experts for a panel discussion following the film’s showing, including the CEO of Northern Human Services, which provides mental health care in Conway and other ski areas; a clinical leader from Riverbend; ski patrol members from two different New Hampshire ski resorts; and professional skier Caite Zeliff, who grew up in New Hampshire and now lives in Alaska.We hope that the showing of “The Paradise Paradox” will bring attention to this lesser-known but critical problem, and prompt further action on how we can increase access to mental health care in these so-called “paradise” places.