Mental Health America of Colorado, established on August 24, 1953

Celebrating 55 Years of Bringing Wellness Home!

In the original "Prospectus of the Colorado Association for Mental Health," the urgent mental health needs in Colorado were identified as:

1. establishing treatment facilities for psychotic children-Colorado had no residential facilities for children needing in-patient psychiatric care

2. community psychiatric out-patient clinics

3. professional psychiatric personnel in state institutions and

4. a recruitment program to encourage young people to train in the mental health disciplines.

Not only in Colorado, but nationwide, the 1950s was an era of expansion with various state Mental Health Associations taking up the cause that had begun at the national level. The emphasis was on mental health and the humane treatment of people residing in state hospitals.

During the 1950s, public attention became focused on mental health largely through television. In the spring of 1956, CBS aired "Out of Darkness," an hour-long television show about mental illness, which was viewed by tens of millions of Americans. The show was described as "one of the most important ventures yet undertaken in public enlightenment on the problem of mental illness." This helped pave the way for mental health activists nationwide to attract the attention of the government to the problems with treatments and services.

Funding for state-level mental health activities was very limited in the 1950s. The Colorado State Department of Public Health financed the major part of its mental health program with federal funds obtained under the National Mental Health Act. During the fiscal year 1953-1954, $18,300 was allocated to Colorado, which was boosted to $24,400 in 1955-56.

Research at the state level also moved the issue of mental health forward, largely because findings were responded to quickly with appropriate legislation. In 1955, Colorado Governor Ed Johnson appointed a Committee on Mental Health, which undertook a survey of the state to determine mental health resources, needs, facilities, work in preventive education, etc. In 1957, a report titled "What are our Responsibilities in Mental Health?", was completed by the Governor's Committee on Mental Health. In 1958, Governor Steve McNichols requested two studies, which laid the groundwork for the major changes enacted by the 42nd General Assembly.

One report, "The Colorado State Hospital and Related Services for the Mentally Ill in Colorado," made by a U.S. Public Health Service team, outlined extensive reorganization plans for the state hospital, the other state institutions and related community services.

As a result of these findings, legislative reforms were passed in the mid to late 1950's, which moved us ahead toward improved mental health laws in Colorado. In 1957, for the first time since 1915, constructive, progressive state legislation was adopted, revising our mental health laws-and an appropriation of $118,000 was passed. This was the beginning of a pattern of financing which made possible the continued growth of psychiatric services on a community level. By mid-1959, full-time clinics receiving state aid were operating in Weld and Arapahoe Counties, in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Sterling and Pueblo. The 41st General Assembly (1956-57) enacted a commitment law which, for the first time in Colorado, established scientific definitions and procedures for the process by which an individual is committed to a hospital or institution for the mentally ill.

During this time, CAMH's advocacy efforts were paying off. In 1958-59, all of the bills and most of the appropriations measures introduced in the 42nd General Assembly and endorsed by CAMH were passed, including laws that:

set up an intensive treatment unit at Pueblo on a pilot basis, authorizing use of an existing building that included 200-250 beds,

authorized the Governor to obtain free land at Fort Logan from the Federal Government for a mental health treatment center near Denver, including a $150,000 appropriation for maintenance and planning,

reorganized the State Home, stating that after July
1960, no child under the age of seven shall be com
mitted to the State Home, except with the consent of the Director of the Home,

reorganized the Department of Institutions, and

combined the Division of Rehabilitation for the Blind
and the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

This was an also an era of the development of psychotropic medications. The advent of psychoactive drugs or "tranquilizers," as they were commonly termed, gave rise to many new questions about the assets, liabilities and mechanisms of the drugs. Helping to support many of the studies were NAMH research grants to which CAMH advocated for and Colorado residents contributed. These new drugs paved the way for deinstitutionalization in the 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, 1956 marked a turning point in the number of patients in mental hospitals in the United States. In 1957, after a second year of the patient numbers declining, CAMH's slogan became "the mentally ill can return."

CAMH played an active role in the 1950s in providing information to the community about mental health and mental health reforms. In 1957, fact sheets and CAMH's first legislative newsletter explaining legislation and urging appropriate action were sent to the membership. Four members of CAMH's Board registered as lobbyists for CAMH during the legislative session. As a result of CAMH's Legislative Committee putting out two "action calls," 20-30 members of CAMH were introduced from the balcony of the Senate and the House on the days when the mental health bills were introduced. Though small, this invitation by the Legislature indicated CAMH's hard work to develop relationships with the Legislature were beginning to take root. This work by the 1950's CAMH Board has helped pave the way for subsequent Association and Legislature relationships.

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1960s

In the 1960s, leadership from the White House challenged the nation to re-evaluate the mental health system. The 1960s brought an increased emphasis on advocacy, bringing community mental health services into local areas, improving mental health hospitals and reaching out to children and youth. The need to strengthen efforts to recruit mental health providers was key to this decade of growth. Inroads were made in
confronting the ever-present stigma associated with mental
illness.

On February 5,1963, President Kennedy delivered an unprecedented mental health message to Congress. He called for leadership from all communities in the nation and from every level of government to coordinate efforts to curb mental
illness. Soon after, President Kennedy signed landmark
legislation into law, thereby launching deinstitutionalization. Community mental health centers began to replace remote state hospitals.

Following President Kennedy's call, in November 1962, CAMH held a full-day Institute on Mental Health Legislation, which brought 40 people from throughout the state together to
propose mental health legislation. In 1963, Governor John praised Colorado's mental health program and stressed the importance of preventive work in the mental health field and the need for early recognition of mental illness. In early 1963, CAMH helped Colorado become one of the first five states in the country to receive a Federal Planning Grant from the National Institute on Mental Health to establish long-range planning for mental health services.

Unfortunately, in the 46th General Assembly (1968-69), Colorado's mental health program was cut by almost $620,000, the first reduction in total operating funds. The capital
construction funds for a vital new mental health center in Grand Junction were also denied that year. These reductions were instituted in the face of rising treatment costs, increasing admissions to state facilities, burgeoning community mental health center programs- all of which indicated a need for more attention, not less.

In December 1968, CAMH rejected the Director of Institutions' budget proposals, which would not have even covered a cost-of-living increase, as unrealistic and formally approved the requests for $28.1 million submitted by the program directors of the Division of Mental Health. Again, in the 1969-70 fiscal year, the funding increases for Colorado's Division of Mental Health did not match the cost-of-living increase. Despite
positive state and national movements toward improved mental health services in the early 1960's, Colorado's Mental Health programs began to decline.
While the move to community-based clinics was significant, mental disorders still hospitalized more people in Colorado than all other illnesses combined. CAMH was instrumental in securing the grounds and facilities for the construction and inception of the Fort Logan Mental Health Center, which was needed as a second state mental hospital. In February 1961, CAMH and its 15 statewide chapters collaborated with the Governor's office and Fort Logan officials to arrange for ground-breaking ceremonies of the state's newest mental health facility. The Center officially opened and began treating patients in a Day Hospital setting on July 17, 1961.

The Day Hospital Program was based on the process used in conventional hospitals where most of the psychiatric treatment took place during the day, and since the patients were not physically ill, there was no need for many of them to stay in the hospital overnight.

In August of 1961, another one of CAMH's advocacy efforts paid off with the ground breaking ceremony for the new Day Care Center at The University of Colorado's Medical School, providing treatment of children with emotional disorders and training of psychiatrists, psychologists, medical students, social workers and teachers. CAMH advocated for the Center, which cost $515,000 to build, and provided for 15 to 30 emotionally disturbed children.

Recognizing the lack of services for children and youth CAMH called special attention of the 1961 General Assembly to the need for:

o increased funding for the care and treatment of emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, including the funds necessary to finance the new adolescent team- treatment program at Fort Logan Mental Health Center and

o funding requests for the addition of a new 20-bed unit to the Children's Treatment Center at the Colorado State Hospital. While positive steps were being made and the growth of treatment facilities was on the rise, the 1961 final report of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health emphasized the need for additional manpower and for developing new categories of mental health workers. To address the acute shortage of trained psychiatric professionals CAMH and the General Assembly created the Mental Health Summer Work and Study Program to attract summer interns to work in the mental health field.

Under this Program, students worked in seven Colorado institutions whose functions included the care and treatment of people with a mental illness or emotional disorders. Part of the recruitment process included opportunities for Colorado students to apply to CAMH for small tuition grants.

In addition to the summer work-study program, CAMH sponsored a Careers Day Program, inviting students from high schools of Colorado, through MHA chapters, to attend a program and tour the wards at the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo. The Program became very popular, growing from 40 students in 1961 to 425 in 1963! Careers Day also expanded to include tours of Fort Logan after it was built. In 1967, Colorado became one of the pioneer few in providing junior-college-level courses of instruction, culminating in an Association of Arts degree, for the training of basic mental health workers. This kind of education preparation was designed to form the foundations for developing the new kinds of mental health professionals needed in the over-burdened mental health programs.

Amidst all of the positive changes, the stigma of mental illness was still strongly felt. Individuals with mental disorders and their families continued to suffer unaware that relief was possible. To confront the stigma, CAMH launched "Operation Friendship" during Mental Health Week. Operation Friendship encouraged the public to learn more about the mental health system and the patients in the centers. In May 1961, a caravan of chartered buses took several hundred visitors to Colorado State Hospital at Pueblo to tour the facilities and socialize with some of the patients in the center.

1970s

In conjunction with the movement and inception of hundreds of community mental health centers, MHAC's policy agenda reflected the heightened focus on community-level services. In 1970, MHAC supported the maintenance and improvement of present levels of mental health services throughout the state, in both the Community Mental Health programs and institutional settings, and the establishment of a full-scale Community Mental Health facility on the western slope. And in January 1970, MHAC opened a southern regional office in Pueblo to serve chapters in the southern part of the state and to provide for expansion of program and fund raising activities in a 14-county area.

In the summer of 1970, MHAC joined other divisions of NAMH in support of appropriations for programs for the National Institute of Mental Health- not only for the community mental health centers program but also for research and staff training. It was estimated that President Nixon's $60.1 million staffing request would not be sufficient to sustain staffing grants, which were obligated to existing centers and included no new construction. Luckily, the 91st Congress passed $90.1 million for staffing grants to community mental health centers for fiscal year 1971, surpassing President Nixon's request by $30 million.

Unfortunately, some centers at hospitals still had to close. Due to a budget deficit, the Inpatient Crisis Unit at Colorado Psychiatric Hospital, University of Colorado Medical Center, one of only two functioning in-patient crisis units in the state, was closed in September 1970. During its two years of service, 440 patients received crisis treatment with minimal time spent in the hospital and limited time away from their families and communities. This was on top of the closing of the Adolescent Treatment Unit at Colorado State Hospital because of lack of adequate appropriations and the inability to open an inpatient service for adolescents at Fort Logan Mental Health Center. This cutback in services indicated the need for further legislative advocacy.

In 1971, the total state appropriation for mental health services was $24.7 million, $2.7 less than was budgeted two years previously. The evidence was clear in 1971 that Colorado's mental health programs were going downhill. The dollars removed from state hospital budgets were not shifted to community programs to offset scheduled decreases in federal funding. As a result, the community programs were hard-pressed to provide quality treatment to their regular patient populations, let alone care for such increased patient loads as resulted from program slashes at Colorado's two state hospitals. However, the legislative tides changed as the 1970s progressed. The 1972-73 appropriations by the Colorado legislature were once again favorable to mental health programs.

Even during the state's upward and downward trends in both facility construction and funding, the services for children and adolescents with mental illnesses continued to suffer. In 1970, a position paper prepared by Statewide Committee on Mental Health Services for Adolescents and widely distributed by MHAC, pointed out the growing chasm between the mental health needs of Colorado adolescents and the limited possibility of meeting those needs with available resources. In the face of an increasing crime rate and prevalence of drug abuse among adolescents and an annual rate of 4.1 percent of dropouts between grades seven and twelve, the already inadequate resources available for 24-hour care for this age group were sharply reduced.

Though the Colorado State Hospital had experienced an 83 percent increase in the adolescent patient population in the previous three years, the treatment program for those from the Denver metro area had to be eliminated in July 1970 because of lack of funds. When full hospitalization was needed, there was no other treatment method that came close to being adequate. A special 24-hour care program with youth was available to only 20 disturbed adolescents in Colorado to September 1970. In 1971, one of MHAC's top goals was the establishment of a 24-hour closed adolescent treatment program for the Denver metro area and for Colorado. In 1974, the state legislature approved funding for such a center on the Mount View Girls School campus in Denver.

In 1979, the Presidents Commission on Mental Health estimated that 8.1 million (15 percent) of school-age children needed help for psychological disorders. This was an increase from the estimates of 11 percent to 12 percent made by the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children in 1969. The National Institute of Mental Health estimated at that time that only 10 percent of the children in need of mental health services were receiving those services.

MHAC's Board President in 1973 was C. Kay Allen and he addressed the issue that not only did mental health services need to improve in the treatment arena, but the emergence of the self-help movement and empowerment in mental health needed to be assisted as well.

"There is a massive difference between mental health and mental illness and we must pay attention to both. We can describe with great precision what mentally ill people are like and use a number of therapies with varying degrees of success… We must take care of the needs of the mentally ill…that is what we are funded for and what society expects us to do. It is only one-half the job. The other half is mobilizing mental health, describing mental health, and setting up research projects to determine more adequately what mental health is. In effect, we are talking about preventative mental health and the massive numbers of people who may never be involved in treatment, but have at times a need for help.", said C. Kay Allen.

Installing this philosophy in 1973, MHAC began the "Community Friends" program to meet the needs of people recovering from a mental disorder as they try to readjust to community living. A Community Friend is a volunteer who, with training support from MHAC and mental health professionals, works with one person at a time for about three months, serving as a friend to turn to and exercising basic tasks with the individual that will help them readjust to daily life.

Once this post-treatment empowerment movement began to take root, consumers began examining their rights. Prior to July 1, 1975, people committed to state mental hospitals, whether for one day or 20 years, had their rights taken away. One of MHAC's most visibly notable achievements was working with the state Division of Mental Health in 1977 to reinstate and notify more than 3,000 former institutionalized mental patients that their citizenship rights were restored, including the right to: apply for a driver's license, apply for a marriage license, sign a legal contract, and vote.

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1980s

For MHAC, intense work began on addressing the needs of older adults with a mental illness and the homeless population, about 25 percent of who were people with chronic mental illness. And, a focus continued to be on providing services to children, youth and their families and on people with chronic mental illness.

MHAC began a number of new programs to meet the needs of children, youth and their families.

In 1981, MHAC started the Early Intervention Program (EIP) to educate day care providers, preschool and early elementary school teachers about emotional difficulties in children. The purpose of the program was to train these "caregivers," who spend more time with young children than any adults other than their parents, to recognize symptoms of emotional problems and to make a proper referral if a child needs treatment.

In 1982, MHAC established the TEANS (Teaching Early Adolescents New Skills) Program that taught 14,000 metro-Denver adolescents stress-management, peer pressure and problem-solving skills. In addition, over 800 students in need of professional mental health care were referred for treatment.

In addition, the Kids Increase Daily Skills (KIDS) program was piloted in the Denver Public Schools in 1984. KIDS' purpose was to discuss with students feelings and how they affect behavior and to teach them stress reduction skills. Resource materials were also given to teachers to use for follow-up activities. Branching off these two youth based programs, MHAC played a leadership role on the issue of preventing teen suicide during the 1980s. In the early 80's, MHAC compiled a list of warning signs of teenage suicide and distributed over 45,000 brochures to encourage parents and the general public to take the signs seriously.

1986 brought the inception of one of MHAC's premier community programs still in operation today: the Pro Bono Mental Health Program. The Program utilizes mental health professionals who volunteer their services at community host sites to people who are homeless, low-income children, youth and their families. The first of its kind in the nation, the program has become a nationally recognized model program for involving private sector professionals in meeting the mental health needs of people who would otherwise go unserved. In October 1989, the Pro Bono Program received a national significant achievement award from the 41st Institute of Hospital and Community Psychiatry of the American Psychiatric Association which selected the Colorado project from among 104 entries nationwide, citing its innovativeness and significant contribution toward treating mental illness among the poor and homeless.

With the success of the Pro Bono Program, MHAC expanded its outreach to the community by creating the Family Advocacy Program in 1989 to assist Colorado families of children with serious emotional disorders. The program was developed to provide leadership and technical assistance in developing parent support/advocacy groups in local communities across Colorado. Phyllis Carpenter, founder and director of the program, noted:

"We strongly believe that parents should be involved in the overall planning, implementation and evaluation of mental health and educational services for their child or adolescent. We encourage them to participate in shaping the system of care offered by mental health providers and the school systems. We're here to provide families with the tools to help them help themselves."

On June 1,1981, because of budget limitations imposed by the City of Denver, Health and Hospitals shut down its community mental health support project, affecting between 3,000 and 5,000 people with chronic mental illness. Eighty percent of these people had been hospitalized at least once because of their mental condition, and 20-30 percent had a history of violent or self-destructive behavior.

In response, MHAC held a public hearing on the chronically mentally ill in November 1983. Expert testimony focusing on the care and treatment needs of the chronically mentally ill were presented by mental health professionals, direct service providers, representatives of the criminal justice system, clients and family members of the chronically mentally ill. MHAC used the information presented to aid in the development of its position on a model system of care and treatment for the chronically mentally ill. To help address this problem, one of MHAC's goals was to attain a comprehensive system of community services for people with severe and long-term mental illness.

To this end, in 1981-1982, MHAC was a key force in establishing the first Mental Health Resources Coalition which was effective in obtaining 24 new beds at Fort Logan Mental Health Center, funding to open 100 new residential facilities for long-term mentally disabled people in metro-Denver and funding to study statewide residential needs. Also in 1981, MHAC published the first comprehensive guide of private mental health providers in the country, thus adding an important planning resource. Soon afterward, in conjunction with The Hunt Alternatives Fund, MHAC published the Services Directory for the Chronically Mentally III, which listed all the services then available in metro-Denver for people with chronic mental illness.

After a rash of violent acts on the part of people with a mental illness in 1980, the media coverage was extensive and added to the stigma and myths that were rampant about people with mental illness. These acts of violence, including the murder of John Lennon and the assassination attempt on President Reagan, were committed by individuals "under psychiatric care." To challenge the negative reports, MHAC sponsored a public forum "Coverage of Violence and Mental Illness: The Media's Responsibility." As part of an overall campaign to influence the media's coverage of mental illness, individual meetings were held with major media news directors to discuss how news coverage about violent mental patients contributed to the overall stigma surrounding mental illness. The goal of the campaign was to achieve more accurate and balanced reporting to increase understanding about mental illness.

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The 1990s

The 1990s, in its first three years, was shaped by two themes: reform and public awareness.

Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provided sweeping protections against discrimination in the United States. This landmark legislation, signed by President Bush on July 26,1990, extended civil rights protections and prohibited discrimination in the private sector in such areas as employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. The ADA defined people with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. MHAC was heavily involved with compiling and distribution information about ADA.

On July 26,1992, the second part of a federal law took effect, providing far-reaching employment rights to people with mental illness in businesses with 25 or more employees. Title I of the ADA called for equal employment opportunity for individuals with disabilities and prohibits employers from asking job applicants standard questions like whether they have a history of mental illness.

With health care reform being debated on the national level, local efforts were also being made and in specific, ColoradoCare, a study on health care reform, was released by the Governor's office in 1993. In response, MHAC spearheaded the Coalition for Mental Health in Health Care Reform; an umbrella group of 30 mental health organizations working to advocate for appropriate and adequate mental health care in state and national health care reform efforts. Just like the efforts made in the 1950's, MHAC remained active in ensuring focus on statewide mental health issues, such as restructuring of the Department of Institutions and the Department of Health and Hospitals, Medicaid capitation and the Division of Mental Health's integrated plan. The Coalition represented all aspects of the mental health community and was instrumental in writing a position paper on the need for equal mental health benefits and taking a stance as one for the fight for mental health issues.

Along with the solid reform efforts taking place significant efforts were being made to increase public awareness and decrease-or remove-the stigma of mental illness. Since the fall of 1989, MHAC became one of 29 community partners nationwide with NIMH promoting the Depression Awareness, Recognition and Treatment Program (D/ART) through public forums, worksite programs, distribution of materials and a variety of other creative ways. The program's primary goal was to inform primary care physicians and mental health specialists about the latest treatments, and help the public recognize the symptoms of depressive disorders and to teach them where to get help.

In 1990, The Mile High Friendship Walk started in Denver to raise public awareness and decrease stigma. Co-sponsored by the Colorado Alliance for the Mentally III, the Colorado Psychiatric Society and MHAC, the Friendship Walk increased in numbers from 600 in 1990 to over 1,200 in 1993.

Echoing the focus on children and adolescents in the past, MHAC has also focused on reform of services for older adults. In December 1991, MHAC announced the results of a 14-month study of publicly funded mental health services for adults, age 60 and older, in Colorado. The findings of this study entitled, A New Vision for Older Adults' Mental Health, were sadly similar to those of 1979 outlining the lack or inadequate services for children and adolescents. MHAC heavily utilized this document in developing its legislative, educational and Pro Bono Program goals as the agency addressed increasing mental health needs for the future. At this time, MHAC expanded the Pro Bono Mental Health Program to serve older adults and tailored materials from the D/ART Program for use with seniors.

As in the late nineties and the years to date, events took place that caused society additional strain, stress, and anxiety. In 1991, MHAC responded to the Gulf War by immediately establishing itself as a community resource to provide information on support services and educational materials for both military and non-military families. MHAC distributed information and organized support groups for the general public to debrief on the emotions they were feeling. Again in 1999, MHAC was called upon to help a grieving community deal with the horror and shock resulting from the shootings at Columbine High School. Immediately following the shootings, MHAC organized volunteers from the Pro Bono Program to man a support phone bank during live newscasts through Channel 9 for the community to call and talk with a mental health professional. In addition to the multitude of fact sheets that were distributed to the community, MHAC partnered with the Jefferson Center for Mental Health to produce a booklet about the crisis for parents entitled, A Partner for Parents: A Handbook for Healing. This booklet was distributed to over 70,000 households in the directly impacted area. (thought for this section - other events just as impactful took place as well, 9/11, wildfires, Iraq - pare the above and mention in general what we did)

In 1993, MHAC received a $150,000, three-year grant to establish a Colorado Chapter of the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, a highly acclaimed parent-run advocacy organization. This allowed MHAC to significantly expand its Family Advocacy Program and to reach out to more parents of children with mental illness or emotional disorder. Still in operation today, the Colorado Chapter of the Federation of Families is evidence of the hard work and community impact that MHAC has made to Colorado.

Expanding upon its efforts to raise awareness around children's mental health, MHAC launched the Remember the Children (RTC) campaign in 1996. RTC focused on education, early intervention, and community treatment connections for the public and families of children with mental illness. To support the program, individuals could sponsor a teddy bear that was ultimately given to a child experiencing mental health needs. Over the six years this campaign ran, local business and individual sponsorships were immense.

MHAC took on a much more active role in supporting the consumer movement in Colorado in the 90's. MHAC's Public Policy department forged a strong link with the Colorado Leadership Academy beginning in 1999. (why did it start in the first place) Public policy staff became the key resource for the Leadership academy, a consumer empowerment program training consumers about grassroots organizing and advocacy.

Towards the end of the 90's and into the 21st century, MHAC has taken on even stronger role with the consumer movement in offering technical assistance to the struggling consumer organization, advocating at the state level for adequate funding for such an organization and ultimately providing an umbrella for the current statewide consumer organization, WE CAN! of Colorado.
The Wellness and Education Coalition and Advocacy Network - WE CAN! of Colorado is the evolution and collaboration of two groups of people from the Leadership Academy with support and assistance from MHAC, CHARG, the Mental Health Ombuds Program and State Mental Health services. This fledgling grassroots organization has similar missiona dn values to MHAC with an aim of networking the entire state. With 250 Academy graduates statewide, this goal is in sight. Under the umbrella of MHAC, the Academy has expanded to include advanced advocacy training and with that Public Policy has taken their training up a notch as well. MHAC Policy department provides training on the goal that at least ten consumers testify in the coming year. Ultimately, we hope that every legislator in the state has a relationship with a constituent who calls themselves a WE CAN Member.

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The 21st Century

MHAC has worked hard to publicize the needs of the mental health system since these cuts occured. In 2005, MHAC and several partners published the Summit Report detailing the impact of state budget cuts on mental health and substance abuse. In short, this report illustrated all of the ways our society and economy are impacted by untreated mental health and substance abuse issues. This report was instrumental in the legislative process, and in 2006, Referendum C was passed which restored some of the funding and services that were lost.

A notable trend this decade is mental health parity...recognizing mental health issues and insurance benefits with the same priority as physical health. MHAC led legislation efforts in 2007 to increase insurance benefits for mental health conditions and saw the dream realized when Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 36 into law. More about this...

In 2008, MHAC published an update to the Summit Report, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Conditions in Colorado - How do they affect you?. Research from this report shows the continued increase in ER visits and incarcerations of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Currently, there are no community services to address this issue which is why MHAC is leading a steering committee of the Metro Denver Crisis Triage Project.

The Project brings together all corners of the community. At the table are: law enforcement, hospitals, mental health centers and community leaders. In 2007, First Lady Jeannie Ritter, announced her mental health campaign and has since become a member of the Triage committee.

The Triage Project will create a 24/7, year-round, community-based system of crisis intervention services from which people experiencing mental health and/or substance abuse crisis can be safely and effectively stabilized and efficiently linked to appropriate follow-up care and services. The crisis centers are an innovative approach to addressing the problem and have proved successful in other states.

We look forward to the future with hope. We look forward to leading the way for people with mental health conditions to realize their full potential and live their most fulfilling lives. We look forward to health, prevention and wellness for everyone. We look forward to Bringing Wellness Home...in Colorado.