25 results for tag: #mentalhealth

Colorado has the nation’s third-longest waitlist for people charged with crimes and ordered into psychiatric treatment

January 24, 2024 By: Jennifer Brown But private hospitals typically do not take patients who have been ordered into treatment through the criminal justice system. And private hospitals often do not take people with the most severe behavioral problems or those who cannot pay, which means state hospitals are sometimes the only option. Mental Health Colorado president Vincent Atchity called on Colorado to “disentangle” mental health care from the criminal justice system. “The number of people being held in Colorado jails when they should be getting health care is an unacceptable tragedy,” he said. “Not only are their rights being ...

Decades-old rule pushes mentally ill Coloradans out of hospitals too soon. Legislators may finally change it.

December 11, 2023 By: Seth Klammann Barbara Vassis keeps a spreadsheet to track her daughter’s years-long journey through Colorado’s patchwork mental health system. The sheet goes back 11 years, a third of Erin’s life. There are holes in the narrative: Her daughter is schizophrenic bipolar, Vassis said, and she’s moved around different parts of the country. Still, even incomplete, Vassis’ growing tracker provides a glimpse at the revolving doors that Erin and hundreds of other Coloradans are stuck in every year. From April 2021 to April 2022, for instance, Erin spent 106 days bouncing between emergency rooms, detox facilities, ...

Two Colorado mental health centers merge, creating largest in the state

November 16, 2023 By: Jennifer Brown Two of Colorado’s community mental health centers will merge in July, creating the largest behavioral health center in the state. WellPower, which provides mental health services and homeless outreach in Denver, is combining with Jefferson Center, the safety-net mental health organization for Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties. Together, the two have almost 2,000 employees and serve about 48,000 people per year. The centers have mobile medication-assisted treatment for patients addicted to opioids, walk-in crisis centers and outreach programs that send mental health professionals out with RTD ...

Solitary Confinement Reform Challenges Spotlight Mental Health Care Need

October 18, 2023 By: Vincent Atchity A new law went into effect in July 2022 that limits how Colorado jails and prisons can use solitary confinement for people with certain mental and physical health needs. Some advocates saw the law as a small step forward toward the elimination of solitary confinement, which is associated with numerous health risks including increased suicide risk. Those advocates are right. It would be a small step forward, but only if it were fully implemented. Full implementation, however, is difficult to accomplish in many, perhaps most, counties. For example, Boulder County Jail, where more than half of the individuals ...

What’s next for mental health ballot measures?

By Kara Rowland Jan. 10, 2019 Fresh off key wins for mental health at the ballot box in November, Colorado voters are likely wondering: Now what? This year, Denver, Larimer, San Miguel and Summit counties will begin collecting as much as $67 million in new revenue to help prevent and treat mental health and substance use disorders. School districts in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties will steer millions toward school-based mental health programs while Boulder County is dedicating additional resources to meet the mental health needs of inmates. Pitkin County plans to boost its community mental health fund. At Mental Health ...