News Clips
20 years later: How Columbine changed mental health response
April 18, 2019
The tragic Columbine shooting forever changed our schools and first responders – here’s how.
We took a look at some of the resources developed in the aftermath of the Columbine shooting. One of the biggest changes, more access to mental health resources for our students. Sadly, numbers show it’s still not enough.
Safe2Tell is an anonymous tip line where students or parents can report something concerning or threatening. According to the Safe2Tell tip line , the most common tip they receive year after year is about suicide. The numbers ...
American Tragedy: Love is Not Enough
By: KGNU News Staff
April 18, 2019
Laurie Freeman has dedicated her life to advocating for mental health after the loss of her husband and son to suicide and her daughter to an overdose. She’s featured in a new documentary titled American Tragedy – Love is Not Enough.
“In 2010 I lost my 19 year old son to suicide followed 7 months later by my husband taking his life. 5 years later my daughter overdosed on prescription drugs, so I got very involved with mental health, with suicide prevention, helped found the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention ...
No Colorado school districts meet federal safety standards for behavioral health staffing, investigation shows
By: Christopher Osher & Jennifer Brown
April 12, 2019
Tamara Durbin is responsible for making sure more than 4,300 students across some 5,000 square miles of Colorado’s Eastern Plains get mental health care when they need it.
She does so with a patchwork of staffers that comes nowhere close to what the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for student safety.
Link to the full story.
Originally appeared on The Colorado Sun.
Safe 2 Tell tips show demand for mental health resources at school
By: Andy Koen
April 17, 2019
DENVER – Tools developed in the aftermath of the Columbine school shooting point to an underserved need in Colorado classrooms; better access to mental health resources. Data compiled by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office show calls and texts by students to Safe 2 Tell tip line quadrupled in recent years from fewer than 4,000 tips during the 2014-2015 school year to some 16,000 tips last year.
As of March, more than 14,000 tips were recorded for the current school year. Of those tips, the most frequent each year ...
The healing power of nature – Studies show being outdoors reduces stress, depression and anxiety
By: Shanna Fortier
April 10, 2019
After graduating college, Travis Wild soon found that spending time in the mountains and on trails in Colorado gave him a place to reconnect with himself and restore his mind.
“For me, the outdoors are how everything is supposed to be without influence of problems,” Wild said, adding that nature has been the steady support in his life through rough times.
When he was diagnosed with testicular cancer almost five years ago, at age 26, Wild turned to nature to destress and cope with the difficult situation. The diagnosis came when ...
Colorado Legislators Seek Parity for Mental Health Treatment
April 8, 2019
According to Mental Health Colorado, over one million Colorado citizens live with a mental health issue or substance use disorder, though only half are estimated to receive the care they need with many going without care entirely, even if they have health insurance.Mental Health Colorado is one of the organizations supporting a bill that will ensure mental health care is treated equally to physical health care by insurance companies.
House Bill 19-1269, which will hold insurers accountable to current state and federal parity laws that require ...
Solutions to our youth mental health crisis within reach this year
By: Jena Hausmann
April 8, 2019
Colorado is first in the nation on many fronts, most of which we are rightly proud of. But Colorado also has one of the highest rates of teen suicide in the nation. Pueblo County, along with El Paso, La Plata, and Mesa counties, have the highest rates of youth suicide in the state, according to a report released by the attorney general last year. Fortunately, we also have a chance this year to make our beautiful state a leader when it comes to youth mental health.
Since 2015, suicide has taken the lives of more than 24 young people ...
A Father’s Story: How Shoplifting Led to My Son Spending 7 Months in Solitary
By: Michael Roberts
April 3, 2019
Later today in Colorado Springs, a young man will appear at a hearing that could lead to him spending the next five years in prison. He previously lingered for seven months in solitary confinement after allegedly assaulting a guard — a crime that likely took place because he was in the throes of a mental illness crisis for which he received no treatment following his arrest on a minor shoplifting charge.
His mental condition went untreated while in solitary, too.
Like his son, the young man's father, to whom we're referring ...
The healing power of nature | Studies show being outdoors reduces stress, depression and anxiety
By: Shanna Fortier
April 10, 2019
After graduating college, Travis Wild soon found that spending time in the mountains and on trails in Colorado gave him a place to reconnect with himself and restore his mind.
“For me, the outdoors are how everything is supposed to be without influence of problems,” Wild said, adding that nature has been the steady support in his life through rough times.
When he was diagnosed with testicular cancer almost five years ago, at age 26, Wild turned to nature to de-stress and cope with the difficult situation. The diagnosis came when ...
Insurers have ignored mental health care despite a law prioritizing it. State Dems want to change that.
By: Faith Miller
April 03, 2019
Coloradans aren’t getting proper mental health care.
That’s not just an opinion — according to the law, it’s a fact. The federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was supposed to ensure that insurance carriers prioritized behavioral health (which encompasses mental health and substance use treatment) on the same level as physical health. But in Colorado, as in most other states, that’s not happening.
In 2015, people here were seven times more likely to go out-of-network for behavioral health treatm...
