Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide. “Out here, we don’t have mental-health doctors.” Catron County, a high-desert region in New Mexico along the Arizona border, has the highest rate of suicide death of any county in the contiguous U.S. from 2010 to 2020. The region’s lack of resources is visible in almost every sector of public health and safety. And the stark geography of Catron and other Western counties like it increases the likelihood of social isolation, another major risk factor for suicide. “There’s a lot of solitude in the West. Conditions are harsh,” says Dr. Gary Knouf, pastor at the Quemado Cowboy Church. “Maybe the greatest dysfunction in America is loneliness.” Read more about the hope and grief in a U.S. county with one of the highest suicide rates at the link in our bio. Photographs by Brandon Kapelow (@bkapelow)