Colorado for decades has struggled with a shortage of mental health treatment options, but care for one age group in particular is most dire: teenagers.
The adolescent mental health epidemic is escalating — suicide is now the leading cause of death for Colorado teens — and the state’s emergency departments are inundated with young patients experiencing mental health crises.
Parents struggle to find treatment that is somewhere on the scale between weekly visits to a therapist and full-time hospitalization. Families looking for intensive, round-the-clock therapy often send their kids to out-of-state treatment centers because they can’t find the right treatment in Colorado.
