<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1582664150546.jpeg" alt=" Rural Kansas has a higher suicide rate than anywhere else in the state. Chris Neal / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> Rural Kansas has a higher suicide rate than anywhere else in the state. Chris Neal / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By CORINNE BOYER <a href="https://www.hppr.org/post/kansas-suicide-rates-are-climbing-especially-states-most-rural-areas">Kansas News Service</a>GARDEN CITY, Kansas — The number of suicides in northwest Kansas increased by more than half in recent years.Twenty counties in the region saw suicides climb by 57% from 2014 through 2018.That jump comes in a part of the state where people already die by suicide at a higher rate than in the rest of Kansas.In
 Kansas “frontier” counties — places with fewer than six people per 
square mile — about 26 people a year out of every 100,000 die by 
suicide. Statewide, Kansas sees fewer than 18 suicides per 100,000 
people, according to a <a href="https://www.khi.org/assets/uploads/news/14821/ib1809_suicide_final.pdf">report</a> by the Kansas Health InstituteAnd
 overall, Kansas had 555 suicides in 2018, up 2% from the previous year.
 The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the <a href="http://www.kdheks.gov/phi/as/2018/2018_Annual_Summary.pdf">2018</a> suicide rate was the highest in 20 years.Nationally, suicide has been on the rise since 1999.“Suicidologists
 have indicated that a combination of factors have increased the risk of
 suicide,” said Andy Brown, commissioner of behavioral health services 
with Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services. They include, 
he said, “growing isolation among Americans, greater economic pressures,
 and increases in untreated mental illness.”Brown said access to firearms and opioids adds to the chances of suicide.“Suicide
 risk is highest when people feel like they are a burden on others, feel
 outcast or isolated from others, and have ready access to lethal 
means,” he said.Mental health professionals say rural parts of 
Kansas are home to several stress factors. They’re certainly 
geographically isolated. And both the population and the economy of much
 of rural Kansas have been in decline for generations.“Social 
isolation is a concern, particularly in very rural areas of Kansas,” 
said Kaley Conner, marketing coordinator with High Plains Mental Health 
Center in Hays, Kansas. “Statistically, the use of alcohol or other 
substances also can increase suicide risk, as can chronic physical 
illness or pain and mental illness.”Recent years have seen ups 
and downs in farming, which still plays a large role in the western 
Kansas economy. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
retracted a report in 2018 suggesting suicide is higher among farmers 
than any other occupation. But the CDC still concludes that farmers 
suffer a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p1115-Suicide-american-workers.html">higher suicide rate</a> than most workers.&nbsp;JoEllyn
 Argabright, a family and consumer science specialist with Kansas State 
University research and extension in Colby, Kansas, is part of a 
third-generation farming family in Rawlins County. She said long hours —
 her husband works an average of 100 hours a week — combined with 
financial stress is burdensome for farmers.“Farming is a very 
dangerous operation,” she said. “You not only face financial challenges,
 constraints on time and finances, but farmers are typically expected to
 be specialists across the board.”If you need help, call the High Plains crisis line (800) 432-0333 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255.Corinne Boyer covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://kannews.slack.com/team/UFFCS11T5">@Corinne</a>_boyer or email cboyer@hppr.org.

Kan. suicide rates climbing, especially in state's most rural areas