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The survey, which was closed on April 15, 2023, was discussed during the public talk on mental health and wellness conducted in May, at the Portage Lake District Library. Michelle Morgan, a retired psychiatrist and member of Keweenaw Support 4 Healthy Minds, talked about the survey at that event.

“We all put this survey together,” Morgan said, “because we want to ask the community what their experience is, what their beliefs and opinions, are about mental health and substance use issues.”

Morgan said that close to 900 people responded to the survey, across a broad spectrum of the community.

The survey was created by a coalition of local agencies collectively called Building a Resilient Copper Country (BARCC). It includes Dial Help, the Western Upper Peninsula Health Dept., U.P. Kids, the Copper Country Intermediate School District, and Keweenaw Support 4 Healthy Minds.

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The goal was to compile the answers and share the collective information with the residents of the five western counties (Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon) of the western U.P.

“The respondents, we think, represent the five-county region very well,” said Morgan. “It’s spread equally among all age groups, from 12 year to 80 plus; also, pretty much categories of education level.”

Morgan said the survey addressed a broad spectrum of topics, including childhood trauma, positive childhood experiences that might protect the person from consequences later on in life; it also addressed substance use, both drug and alcohol and mental health issues, including attempts to seek treatment or beliefs about stigma.

“All of those issues that combine together to make people in the Copper Country, and across the country, at increased risk for suicide,” said Morgan. Suicide questions were on the survey, also.

On Wed. Morgan said that the infographic does not include all of the data gathered from the survey, but does include a lot.

“The full report is something we will be working on for a few months,” Morgan said earlier this month, “which is not uncommon for surveys.”

Among the survey’s findings was nearly 2 of every 5 respondents have struggled with their own use of alcohol or drugs, and 94% said they believe people struggling with alcohol or drug use have a chronic disorder and require help to recover. An anonymous community member commented on the survey, saying:

“I feel like a lot of our community members turn a blind eye and/or shame other members who use drugs — no one, not ever, wishes to be in place like that in their lives and should not be viewed/judged by another person. It can happen to any one of us.”

On the topic of mental health, 7 out 10 of the respondents reported having experienced a mental health condition. In response to the question of what resources people feel is missing in the community, the following were among those listed:

• Support groups

• Treatment centers

• Providers and compassion

• Community centers.

One survey taker commented: “We need to change the stigma associated with mental health so people are willing to reach out for help.”

Another respondent commented that everyone deals with mental issues, either personally or with a peer or family member.

“If we could work as hard together to bring that to light rather than work that hard to appear okay,” the commenter wrote, “society could grow together.”

Nearly a quarter (22%) said they had experienced physical abuse as a child while nearly a third (30%) said they felt they were not cared about in the family. Nearly 50% (49.2%) reported not feeling able to talk with family about their feelings.

Almost 50% said they grew up living with someone who struggled with alcohol or drugs.

• 66% felt they had experienced a mental health condition, diagnosed or undiagnosed

• 46% responded that they had thought about suicide

• 68% said they knew someone who had died by suicide.

Of the 892 respondents, the survey shows that:

88% are white; 6% are Native American or Alaskan Native; 77% are female, 20% male, and 3% were transgender or a variant.