What’s Happening in Colorado
* We are over one-third of the way through Colorado’s 120-day legislative session. State legislators have already introduced over 400 pieces of legislation, many of which address or impact mental health or substance use.
We will keep you informed on the bills we are taking positions on the following webpage.
* The Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) released its three-year strategic plan outlining key priorities and strategies focused on behavioral health care reform.
The BHA will focus on six key areas: improving access to behavioral health care, making behavioral health care more affordable, bolstering the behavioral health workforce, promoting accountability, uplifting lived experience, and improving whole person care.
* The BHA has also released a Peer Support Funding Allocation Plan detailing the use of SB22-181 funds to strengthen and support the peer support workforce!
A View from Washington, D.C.
* Earlier this month, President Biden spoke before a joint session of Congress to deliver his second State of the Union Address, where he highlighted mental health and substance use as part of this unity agenda.
He detailed his Administration’s progress and strategy to address these dueling crises.
* Newly released data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the first look at youth behavioral health trends since the pandemic’s onset.
The biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that nearly three in five teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, double the rate of boys. It also found that most LGBTQ+ students experienced poor mental health and more than one in five attempted suicide in the past year.
