The Community Collaborative Shares Regional Data and Roadmap to Improve Behavioral Health

TRUCKEE, Calif. –The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) through its program, the Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee (CCTT), has been working with the Katz Amsterdam Foundation since 2020 to collect and analyze community-wide data that would improve the health and well-being of our residents. This partnership has resulted in a Behavioral Health Roadmap to address long-standing behavioral health challenges to our rural community, as well as updated findings from a 2022 Community Engagement and Behavioral Health Study. Also conducted in three mountain-resort communities, the data helps identify trends, inform decisions and guide efforts to improve community mental health and wellness.

TTCF has released a video with key findings and established a Community Mental Health Fund to help advance its strategic plan for mental health which includes: reducing stigma, aligning resources and ensuring collaboration, and introducing new ways to approach wellness in our region. All of these resources can be found here: ttcf.net/in-it-together

Living in a rural mountain town comes with stressors that can negatively impact the mental health of our community members. Additionally, we do not have as many resources here as more urban areas which leaves many residents without the services they need. This data has helped CCTT identify creative solutions to fill the gaps and determine the steps to take for the greatest impact. All donations to our Community Mental Health Fund will provide us the flexible funding to implement solutions to address the health needs of our Tahoe Truckee people.

Alison Schwedner, CCTT Director

Through phone-based random sampling and an internet-based survey, individuals over the age of 18 in the North Tahoe Truckee region were surveyed on questions around community life, social support, mental health and substance abuse. Key findings included:

• ⅓ of residents reported needing mental health services in the past year
• Housing is the #1 challenge to mental health and well-being in our community
• 40% of residents have considered leaving North Tahoe because of housing instability, lack of stable employment, or insufficient income to cover expenses
• 47% of residents say they have experienced 3 or more poor mental health days in the past month
• Nearly 40% of residents reported feeling isolated from others