Utah’s mental health services continue to fall short leaving Utahns in desperate need of a change.  

In 2024, Utah ranked 46th in mental health rankings according to data from Mental Health National. The criteria included adults with any mental illness, substance abuse disorder, thoughts of suicide, thoughts of suicide who did not receive treatment, uninsured adults with mental illness, and more.  

Utah is very low on the list and has continued to rank worse each year.  

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) said that Utah 550,000 adults who had a mental health condition in 2021. That is more than two times the amount of people who live in Salt Lake City.  

Of the 40.9% of Utah adults who suffered from anxiety and depression, 26.4% were not able to get therapy.  

There were 196,000 Utah adults in 2021 who didn’t get the much-needed mental health care. Almost half or 49.4% couldn’t because of the cost.  

Though NAMI didn’t specify why, Utahns are two times more likely to be “forced out-of-network" for mental health care. That makes finding a therapist or mental health help more costly and more difficult.  

There are also Utah communities who just don’t have enough mental health professionals. 

None of these numbers reflect the Utah youth who also suffer from mental illness. NAMI said that 51,000 Utah youth 12-17 suffered from mental illness in 2021. That number has probably gone up considerably.  

Mental health stigmas have lessened over the years but access to care and affordability in Utah has not.  

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