1046 results for author: Mental Health Colorado

New mental health tool to help communities

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) -- One local non-profit group is making it easier to find mental health statistics in your community. Mental Health Colorado created the data dashboard. You can select your county, like El Paso County. Then you can scroll over each picture to see the numbers for where you live. For example, 12 percent of residents in El Paso County reported eight or more days of poor mental health. That's higher than the state average. We sat down with the CEO to talk about how you can use this new tool. “Now we put all this data in one place so we can see how we’re doing when it comes to suicide rates, binge drinking, ...

Cross Currents: Mental Health Colorado

By CHRISTIN KAY • NOV 21, 2017 One out of every four Coloradans experience a mental health or substance use disorder every year.  That’s nearly a million of us. Today on Cross Currents, host Christin Kay speaks with Andrew Romanoff. He’s president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, a nonprofit which advocates for mental health treatment. He’s also a former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. We spoke about what’s being done, both across the state and locally, to improve mental health care. Listen to the interview here.

Colorado mental health data moves in wrong direction despite some promising trends

By Jack Queen More High Country residents are saying they experience at least one week of poor mental health days per month than two years ago, and the percentage who say they needed mental health care but didn't get it increased as well, according to state survey data. Despite promising trends in Summit County mental health care, including a suicide rate near a 10-year low, those figures and a host of behavioral-health-risk-factor data show there is plenty of work left to be done. "The fact that suicides are down doesn't necessarily mean people are experiencing more mental wellness," said Sarah Vaine, assistant county manager and former Summit ...

Survey Says

November 14, 2017 Can you make it to Golden, Aspen, Littleton, or Fort Collins before Thanksgiving? That’s our schedule over the next seven days. We’re crisscrossing the state to promote mental health care. But even if you can’t join us in person, you can now follow our progress—and Colorado’s—online. Our new data dashboard allows you to track key outcomes at a state and local level. Learn how your county compares to the rest of Colorado in the prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders and the availability of treatment. Our new data dashboard allows you to track key outcomes at a state and local level. Learn how ...

Group aims to boost Coloradans’ mental health

Colorado routinely makes the list as one of the physically healthiest states in the union, but a new effort by the organization Mental Health Colorado strives to make Colorado the mentally healthiest state too. The group’s president, former Colorado state Rep. Andrew Romanoff, said the new data dashboard that just launched on the group’s website offers Coloradans a chance to see where they stand in terms of mental health and substance abuse disorders. “Previously you would have had to go to several dozen sources to get all this information,” said Romanoff. The dashboard — available here — presents information including suicide ...

New data helps Aspen, other areas compare suicides, mental health issues

By Scott Condon One way to reduce the 1,000-plus suicides that occur each year in Colorado is to integrate mental with physical health care, according to a statewide nonprofit. Mental Health Colorado is promoting the idea that state residents should pay as much attention to what's going on in their head as in their heart, said executive director Andrew Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker. One tool to achieve that goal is to make free, confidential mental health screenings universal, he said. Romanoff will be one of the featured speakers Thursday at the Aspen Hope Center's annual community forum at Paepcke Auditorium. The presentation is ...

Landslide

November 8, 2017 Democrats and Republicans shared a victory yesterday. There’s a sentence you don’t often see. But that’s what happened last night in Eagle County. More than 10,000 people in Eagle County experience a mental health or substance use disorder each year, yet the county dedicates no resources to treatment. A bipartisan coalition set out to change that, proposing a tax on the sale and production of recreational marijuana. The result: nearly 74% of voters supported Issue 1A. We’re proud to have been part of the winning team. But we have far more work to do. While Coloradans are voting to boost mental health servic...

Eagle County voters approve marijuana tax to fund mental health programs

by Randy Wyrick EAGLE COUNTY — Eagle County has its own marijuana tax, following months of proponents jonesing for it. Ballot Issue 1A won in a landslide, with support from more than 73 percent of voters. "Eagle County voted to save lives. It was a bipartisan effort to put this over the top," said Andrew Romanoff, CEO of Mental Health Colorado. The tax on recreational marijuana could generate an estimated $2 million annually for county coffers. Of that, the first $1.2 million is supposed to be spent on mental health and substance abuse programs in the Eagle River and Roaring Fork valleys. "We are extremely excited and grateful with the result...

Colorado ski-resort county hopes to tax pot to fund mental health services

By David O. Williams When Eagle County Public Health and Environment director Chris Lindley moved up to the Vail Valley from Denver a few months ago, he was stunned to learn his new home doesn’t have a single bed for people dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues. “Being new to the county and coming up here from Denver, I’m shocked that in a community as wealthy and with as many resources and in this beautiful natural environment that we lack the mental health resources for the people that live and work here,” said Lindley, who worked for the Colorado Department of Health and Environment for 10 years in Denver. Now an ...

No waiting

October 12, 2017 “Is this likely to get better anytime soon?” At a meeting in Eagle on Tuesday, a commissioner asked me whether her county should wait for the federal government to improve mental health care. Two days later, the President issued an executive order that jeopardizes coverage for mental health and substance use services and for Americans with preexisting conditions. “Madam Chair,” I replied, “I’d say if you’re waiting for Washington to help, this will be a very long meeting.” The good news: Eagle County isn’t waiting. The commissioners approved a ballot measure to boost funding for mental health care. Y...