On Edge: Colorado's Mental Health Crisis

Even now, nearly three months after COVID invaded his body, Jason McGinnis cannot stop asking himself how he contracted the virus.

Seventeen-year-old Navee Essien of Aurora tried to end her life in November. She since has been diagnosed with bipolar, anxiety and major depressive disorders, and is learning to manage them.

For the time being, the children of city employees, hospital staffers and other essential workers are still romping around Little Angels Daycare.

Tylan Jones is not naive. He is a 20-year-old Black man living in the United States. This reality does not easily accommodate naivete.

Scott Zayatz upped his dosage of antidepression and antianxiety medication in early spring when the pandemic started clobbering the nation and the presidential race, post-primary, turned foul.

Some words fail us, and for Robert Werthwein, “depression” is one of them.

Laurel Carpenter and Melissa Humphrey, two 30-something nurses, moms and best friends in Grand Junction, rely on each other for support with anxiety.

Jimmy Brown is Kiowa County's elected coroner, its only funeral director and a third-generation. Exceptional drought has prompted increases in anxiety and depression, but getting people to talk about it won't be easy.

Millete Birhanemaskel, a refugee, long-time Denver resident and businesswoman, grappled with 2020 as many others have. And she managed to keep her coffee shop, the Whittier Cafe, from going under. But the anxieties of the past year became magnitudes greater on Nov. 3, as Americans and much of the world awaited election results, civil war flared again in her family’s home country of Ethiopia and her grandmother and two aunts went missing.

Eddie Kemm is 81 and lives alone. The pandemic robbed him of his social life, but he found a way to cope. Until he got sick.

In another installment of the statewide mental health reporting project On Edge, we meet the Barfoot family.

In the latest installment of On Edge, we meet Dr. Patricia Westmoreland, who keeps scrubbing her hands because, during a pandemic, it's on of the few things she can control.

In the next part of our series On Edge, we meet middle schooler Brooklyn Colbert. She's always liked going to school. Until recently. Remote learning in the age of COVID has changed things. And it's putting stress on students, educators, and parents.

COVID killed Elizabeth Torres's grandpa and nearly killed her. Now, she is combatting fears that she will catch the virus again and that this time it will kill her. This story is the latest in an ongoing series called On Edge, exploring the growing mental health challenges in Colorado.

In part two of the series On Edge, we meet Dick Carleton of Breckenridge. He's watched the pandemic tear away at the social fabric of the town. On Edge is an ongoing online series on the growing mental health challenges in Colorado, featuring the work of more than 100 news organizations statewide.

The pandemic. A shaky economy. Wildfires. Polarizing politics. There's plenty to be stressed out about these days. You're not alone. Over the coming weeks, KSUT will share online stories of everyday Coloradans and how they're grappling with the blows of recent events. Read more about “On Edge,” a statewide series on the growing mental health challenges in Colorado, featuring the work of more than 100 news organizations statewide.