Mental health champions from across Colorado come together for Legislative Education & Advocacy Day

If advocating for a brighter future for mental health is ultimately left to younger generations, then a group of local high school students has demonstrated that we are in good hands.

Students from Green Mountain High School and Highlands Ranch High School joined roughly 200 advocates from across the state for Mental Health Colorado’s 2016 Legislative Education & Advocacy Day. Check out this 9NEWS report about the event, which includes an interview with one of the students.

As the leading advocate for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, Mental Health Colorado helped attendees explore the most effective ways to advance the cause of mental health and hone their advocacy skills.

Student leaders honored during the event had created a mental health workbook for younger students through the The FIRE Within, a suicide prevention program of the Carson J Spencer Foundation. This is a particularly important effort, with one in five adolescents facing a severe mental health condition.

Other honorees included local mental health advocate Linda Rinehart and a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers – Sen. John Kefalas and Reps. Lois Landgraf and Dianne Primavera – who had been named by Mental Health Colorado as Legislators of the Year for their outstanding leadership on policies addressing mental illness.