News Clips
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 ...
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.
...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
World Mental Health Day Presentation
World Mental Health Day Presentation from Eagle County Government TV on Vimeo.
Andrew Romanoff, President and CEO, Mental Health Colorado discusses his organization's mission to advocate for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders.
Proponents of Eagle County marijuana tax say, if passed, it will provide a mental health-funding model for all of Colorado
EAGLE — Suicide kills an American every 12 minutes — 44,000 Americans every year and 10 in Eagle County so far this year.
"Think about that," said Andrew Romanoff, with Mental Health Colorado. "If someone attacked the United States and killed an American every 12 minutes and wiped out 44,000 of us in the course of a year, we would declare war."
"In some ways, we have declared war, and this is a war we can win," Romanoff said.
Romanoff was in Eagle on Tuesday, Oct. 10, to help proponents kick off their campaign for 1A, the ballot measure that would institute county...
Removing barriers to mental health care access
What stops Coloradans from getting the mental health care they need? You can learn a lot by asking them.
That's one of the things we've been doing over the past 18 months, as part of a statewide listening tour.
A new report from the Colorado Health Institute confirms what we've heard.
The report shows that more Coloradans than ever have health insurance. But an estimated 380,000 Coloradans, including 51,500 in El Paso County, still go without mental health care - figures that have barely budged over the last four years.
The single biggest barrier: cost. More ...
Summit County could be leader in fight against mental illness, says president of Mental Health Colorado
By Jack Queen
Last year, a record 13 people died of suicide in Summit County, which translates to a rate three times higher than the national average.
That disturbing reality has caught the attention of local officials and advocacy groups, who are working to improve access to care and change the way people think about mental illness.
That energy has contributed to some tangible results, including a recent announcement by the Colorado Office of Behavioral Health that a crisis-stabilization unit will soon be coming to Summit County.
Last week, the OBH came to Frisco as ...
