News Clips
Mental Health Colorado’s new CEO talks legislative priorities, teen mental health, and how to go beyond how-are-yous at work
By: Faith Miller
October 16, 2019
Originally appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent
Vincent Atchity, formerly of Equitas Project, is Mental Health Colorado’s new CEO.
Statewide nonprofit Mental Health Colorado’s leadership has shuffled around a bit in the past year, but its mission remains the same: “promoting mental health, ending stigma, and ensuring equitable access to mental health and substance use services.”
The shake-ups started when former CEO Andrew Romanoff resigned from his role at Mental Health Colorado early this year before ...
Teen Suicide PSAs released by coalition of Colorado state offices, parents, teens
By: Ellis Arnold
October 14, 2019
Originally appeared in the Highlands Ranch Herald.
Youths speak out about mental health following stories of south metro suicides.
When the impact of a suicide started to take a toll on Jim Janicek's kids, he knew he had to do something.
“My kids go to Arapahoe High School,” Janicek told a crowd at the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center near downtown Denver.
When Arapahoe student Nick Bales died by suicide last fall, it sent Janicek's kids into a spiral, he said. That was just a few days before another Arapahoe student ...
Colorado Edition: Today’s the Day
October 10, 2019
On World Mental Health Day, President & CEO of Mental Health Colorado interviewed with KUNC.
Listen to the interview on KUNC.
Talking Mental Health Day
October 10, 2019
Mental Health Colorado President & CEO, Vincent Atchity discusses what Colorado is doing in regards to mental health care.
Listen to the interview on KOA.
Medicaid expanding to cover inpatient, residential addiction treatment
By: Mary Shinn
September 30, 2019
Originally appeared in The Durango Herald
20 La Plata County deaths this year involved drugs or alcohol
An expected Medicaid expansion next year will allow more low-income Southwest Colorado residents struggling with drug and alcohol addiction to seek more intensive treatment.
Local addiction experts say they hope new access to inpatient and residential addiction treatment can help prevent overdose deaths, which have been rising statewide for decades.
The number of Southwest Colorado residents who need intensive care is ...
Building health resources for students and staff
September 30, 2019
Originally appeared on the Kaiser Permanente website
Kaiser Permanente event explores mental health needs and best practices in Colorado schools.
Mental health is a rapidly growing topic of conversation in Colorado with more than 1 million people — adults and children — living with depression or anxiety in the state. Encouraging strides are being made to break down stigma and provide more access to mental health resources but more can and must be done — especially for youth in Colorado who rank third-highest in the United States for mental ...
SPECIAL REPORT: A quarter of Colorado school districts lacking sufficient mental health care in El Paso County
By: Debbie Kelley and Burt Hubbard
September 28, 2019
Public school districts statewide and in the Pikes Peak region need to hire thousands of counselors and other mental health professionals to meet national staffing standards, according to a Gazette analysis of data from a 2019 Mental Health Colorado report.
Read the full The Gazette article.
Access to mental health, substance abuse treatment in Colorado getting worse, survey finds
By: Jakob Rodgers
September 25, 2019
Article originally appeared in The Gazette.
A mural on the side of the Cottonwood Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs a message focused on helping to eliminate the stigma around mental health.
Coloradans say it’s only getting harder to access mental health and substance abuse treatment due to stigma and the prohibitively high cost of therapy.
The number of Coloradans who went without needed mental health care in the previous year nearly doubled from 2017, ...
“A gradual better”: One student’s story of dealing with suicidal thoughts
September 25, 2019
Suicide rates in the US are on the rise – as o 2017 (the most recent data available), suicide is the second-leading cause of death in 15-to 34-year-olds.
Read the article in Campus Well.
A ‘PRESSING NEED’ SUNDAY EDITION | Kentucky grapples to close dangerous gap in mental health law
By: Jason Riley, Chad Mills and Marcus Green
September 22, 2019
Story originally appeared in WDRB.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) – It was an “Oh, my God!” moment for Kentucky state Sen. Danny Carroll. He said the revolving door of violent criminal cases involving 30-year-old Cane Madden is “the most blatant example” of a failure in the justice system he has ever seen.
Time after time, judges have dismissed Madden’s cases in Louisville and released him back into society under a state law that prosecutors say is their worst nightmare: Someone who is incompe...
