1041 results for author: Mental Health Colorado

A critical gap

June 16, 2017 How do we recruit more mental health professionals -- and retain those we have? Those questions gained new urgency this month. A severe staffing shortage has plunged Colorado’s largest psychiatric hospital into turmoil. Federal regulators have told the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo that its conditions pose an “immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients.” The institute will lose an estimated $12 million in Medicare and Medicaid funding -- roughly 13 percent of its total operating budget -- on June 28 unless it implements “sufficient corrective actions.” The state is scrambling to ...

Men’s Health Month: Man Therapy

The statistics say it all: working-age men (25-64 years old) account for the largest number of suicide deaths in the United States. They are four times more likely than women to die from suicide. These men are also the least likely to receive support – they don’t talk about their experiences with friends and family or ask professionals for help, according to the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention. During Men’s Health Month in June, Mental Health Colorado wants to focus on changing this mindset. Men must talk about their feelings. A local advertising firm, Cactus, partnered with the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention to launch a ...

Vail Daily editorial: Congressman’s shooting raises difficult questions

By now, anyone interested in the topic has seen, heard and read plenty of news and opinion about Wednesday's shooting of U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four other people by a gunman who was then fatally shot by police. As this is written, the news and opinion are falling into depressingly predictable patterns. Since the gunman — who won't get the pleasure here of posthumous glory through identification — was named, those interested have already learned about his politics, previous arrests and so on. Political opinions will run along a similar, predictable track, with plenty of blame and issue rehashing reflective of our nation's ...

Summit Daily editorial: State has far to go in addressing mental health crisis

Colorado's county jails have become the last resort for our broken mental health system. Getting a psychiatric bed for a person in crisis can be a time-consuming challenge that frequently falls to law officers. Consequently, patients deemed a risk to themselves or others often wind up isolated inside a stripped-down cell designed to prevent suicide. That's regardless of whether they've been charged with a crime or not. Here in Summit County, the average number of hours people spend in mental health jail holds has risen from 44 hours in 2014 to 651 last year, a 1,365 percent increase. It's a grim reality that sheriffs, state lawmakers and ...

Biking the California coast for mental health

A local triathlete starts a journey Wednesday, June 7th cycling about 2-thousand miles to raise awareness for mental health. 25-year old Coloradan Dominique Stasulli is biking the entire Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to San Diego in about two weeks. She says she’s never seen the Pacific and wanted to do something for a cause that’s important to her while she’s on vacation. She has PTSD and depression from experiencing emotional and physical abuse when she was a child. "As I ride these 2,000 miles, please join me vicariously in supporting the mental health movement in this country," says Stasulli. "I would to love to see you support ...

Lea: The light at the end of my tunnel

The views and opinions expressed in following story are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Mental Health Colorado. My story began at a rather young age. Mental illness runs heavily in my family – most notably mood disorders such as bipolar depression and major depression. I was directly impacted by my father’s struggle with major depression and subsequent suicide when I was nine years old. This traumatic loss at such a young age led me down a dark road as I found myself face to face with heavy thoughts and feelings that I can only imagine were similar to my father’s. It scared me because I was too young ...

Amy: They don’t bring you casserole

The views and opinions expressed in following story are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Mental Health Colorado. We caught our son Blake smoking pot when he was barely thirteen. I naively believed we could love and parent him out of it. We would educate him on the numerous reasons why drug use would negatively impact his health and potentially shorten his life. We presented the potential consequences, getting kicked out of lacrosse, or school, or worse entangled with the law. If not the future consequences, maybe the loss of privileges would motivate our son to abstain from using drugs. Certainly, our disappoint...

Denver Business Journal: Mental Health Matters

Mental Health Colorado, along with our partners, created an informative supplement focused on workplace wellness in the Denver Business Journal for May, Mental Health Month. The supplement is packed with information and resources to help people navigate the mental health system and learn why mental health matters. Take a look at it!

Karolyn: Dr. Momma Bear

The views and opinions expressed in following story are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Mental Health Colorado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8JUNxAGY8&feature=youtu.be What I most want to convey about this brief video is this: Jacob is OK. Hope, love, and kindness got us to the other side. My deepest gratitude for the unconditional love of family, friends, teachers, medical providers, counselors, neighbors, our rabbi and spiritual community. For the support of work colleagues, kind strangers, compassionate policemen, judges, probation officers, social workers and his guardian ad litem. And of course, ...

Treatment, not jail for mental health

KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo PUEBLO - It's estimated that as many as million Coloradans suffer from varying degrees of mental illness, yet most wait too long to seek treatment. More than a thousand suicides are recorded in our state every year. Andrew Romanoff, the President and CEO of the non-profit advocacy group Mental Health Colorado, wants to change things. At a luncheon hosted by the Pueblo Latino Chamber of Commerce Friday, Romanoff talked about the successful passage of State Senate Bill 207, which ends the practice of so-called mental health holds where patients can be jailed due to their mental status. ...