There’s usually not much good news to be found when you look at Colorado’s record on mental health and substance abuse. By nearly every metric — suicide rate, the prevalence of mental health issues, death from drug overdoses — the state is one of the worst in the nation. But a team of behavioral health professionals and advocates hopes to bring good news soon. On July 1, the new Behavioral Health Task Force kicked off a year-long effort to find a way to “revolutionize” Colorado’s behavioral health system and move Colorado to the top.
“Right now, I think we all agree that our behavioral health system is absolutely broken,” says Michelle Barnes, executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services and a leader of the task force.
Governor Jared Polis announced the Behavioral Health Task Force in May. Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera, who is on the executive committee of the task force, has said that mental health was one of the most prominent concerns she and Polis heard from Coloradans while traveling during the campaign, and that behavioral health (an umbrella term encompassing both mental health and substance use disorder) will be a priority for the administration.
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