News Clips
KOA Radio: Andrew Romanoff on the Senate Health Care Bill
Listen to Andrew Romanoff discuss the impact of the Senate's health care bill on mental health with KOA Radio.
GOP health-care bill is bad medicine for mental health
Let's say your state faces an opioid epidemic. And a shortage of psychiatric care. And one of the highest suicide rates in the nation.
Let's say you live in Colorado.
If you're an optimist, you might turn to Congress for help. At the very least, you'd expect your representatives and senators not to make matters worse.
Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans' new health-care plan would do real harm to Colorado and to the rest of the country. Since the Senate may vote on this proposal before the end of the week, it's important to speak out right now.
In the Senate, ...
Helping men take care of their mental health
Andrew Romanoff, President of Mental Health Colorado, stopped by 9NEWS on Father's Day to talk about men's mental health and how to take care of the men in our lives by taking care of their feelings.
Vail Daily editorial: Congressman’s shooting raises difficult questions
By now, anyone interested in the topic has seen, heard and read plenty of news and opinion about Wednesday's shooting of U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four other people by a gunman who was then fatally shot by police.
As this is written, the news and opinion are falling into depressingly predictable patterns. Since the gunman — who won't get the pleasure here of posthumous glory through identification — was named, those interested have already learned about his politics, previous arrests and so on.
Political opinions will run along a similar, ...
Summit Daily editorial: State has far to go in addressing mental health crisis
Colorado's county jails have become the last resort for our broken mental health system.
Getting a psychiatric bed for a person in crisis can be a time-consuming challenge that frequently falls to law officers. Consequently, patients deemed a risk to themselves or others often wind up isolated inside a stripped-down cell designed to prevent suicide. That's regardless of whether they've been charged with a crime or not.
Here in Summit County, the average number of hours people spend in mental health jail holds has risen from 44 hours in 2014 to 651 last year, a 1,365 ...
Denver Business Journal: Mental Health Matters
Mental Health Colorado, along with our partners, created an informative supplement focused on workplace wellness in the Denver Business Journal for May, Mental Health Month. The supplement is packed with information and resources to help people navigate the mental health system and learn why mental health matters. Take a look at it!
Treatment, not jail for mental health
KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo
PUEBLO - It's estimated that as many as million Coloradans suffer from varying degrees of mental illness, yet most wait too long to seek treatment. More than a thousand suicides are recorded in our state every year.
Andrew Romanoff, the President and CEO of the non-profit advocacy group Mental Health Colorado, wants to change things. At a luncheon hosted by the Pueblo Latino Chamber of Commerce Friday, Romanoff talked about the successful passage of State Senate Bill 207, which ends the practice of so-called ...
Colorado jails won’t be used to ‘hold’ mentally ill
Colorado county jails will no longer be used to temporarily detain people suffering from mental illness or episodes, according to a new law signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
"It's an area where Colorado is leading the way," he said. "Being in jail is probably the worst way to treat someone suffering from a brain disease."
Senate Bill 207 also authorizes $7 million from legalized marijuana revenues to create mental-health response teams to help law enforcement deal with mentally ill people -- particularly in rural areas.
Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who ...
Andrew Romanoff visits Steamboat Springs to talk mental health
Steamboat Springs — For the past two years, Andrew Romanoff has traveled across the state hoping to have a "Conversation with Coloradans" about mental health in their communities.
"This is the second year for our listening tour," Romanoff said during a recent telephone interview. "We want to hear what the barriers are in our state for mental health care."
Romanoff was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and served as speaker of the house from 2005 to 2008.
But the past several years, the former state representative has shifted ...
Recently Completed Legislative Session Leads To Big Gains In Mental Health Care
Mental health care was one area perhaps lost in the shuffle of the 2017 legislative session amid high-profile issues like transportation, the hospital provider fee and what constitutes the public consumption of marijuana.
But officials say 2017 was a banner year filled with advances that will have a great impact across Colorado. In one example, the House and Senate both passed -- and Gov. Hickenlooper signed into law last month -- a bill that provides support to students who may be dealing with mental health issues. Another is designed to end the use of jails and correc...
