STAR Pilot Project Adds Mental Health Professionals to a Mobile Crisis Unit, Preventing Arrests

The anxiety and isolation caused by COVID-19 intensifies Caring for Denver’s challenge of addressing Denver’s substance use and mental health needs. We rely on people with lived experience to inform our funding priorities and help us understand the challenges our community is facing. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of Melanie Stritch and Thomas Hernandez for sharing their stories, and for advocating to change how we think about and address these needs in our community. Listen to their very different journeys to well-being and insights on how they’re maintaining sobriety during the challenges of COVID-19. 

The availability of mental health care services is limited in Montbello, one of Denver’s most diverse areas in the city. Despite its vibrant and strong community fabric, Montbello faces many economic challenges and years of underinvestment in infrastructure and community resources.

For people in the neighborhood seeking care from people who look like them, resources are almost non-existent. The Montbello Mental Health Circle is stepping into this void to provide culturally responsive, community-based mental health services.

“We thought, no more waiting for help, we have to help ourselves,” said Donna Garnett, Executive Director of the Montbello Organizing Committee (MOC), whose organization led the formation of the Mental Health Circle.

“It’s one thing to get opinions, perspectives from leaders… it’s another to get the opinions of people who live with those decisions,” Donna said. Staff and volunteers for MOC reached out to residents using surveys and focus groups and striking up conversations with neighbors in various settings. They heard that a lack of trust in institutions and stigma was preventing people from accessing services. Peer counselors and community mentors said they were suffering intense stress and burnout from being “boots on the ground” providing support for youth and adults in trauma due to the pandemic, violence, and substance misuse.

“We lead where people tell us to lead,” Donna said. Community voice helped MOC and its Montbello Mental Health Circle partners to create pathways to care that meets people where they are. “Therapy doesn’t need to be in an office. It can happen anywhere,” Donna notes. The “front yard therapy” pilot they created is a prime example. Counselors visit residents where they are most comfortable – in their homes, gardens, front yards, and backyards.

Working together with the Mental Health Center of Denver, MOC builds on this popular approach to give the community trusted, comfortable mental health supports. A kiosk to access psychological services virtually using Zoom and other telehealth options is being constructed inside Academy 360, a K-5 school in the neighborhood. Families or individuals can visit the kiosk at any time, and services provided regardless of the ability to pay, with a Caring for Denver grant covering part of the costs and matching funds covering other expenses.

“I’m just hoping that we have a really wide variety of modalities that are funded and available for people at all levels of economic status,” Donna said, noting that she also hopes stigma will no longer be a hindrance to people getting the help they need. “Mental health issues impact us all.”

The Montbello Organizing Committee focuses on outreach, strengthening community leadership skills, and providing Montbello residents with resources and tools for their well-being. It is part of the Montbello Mental Health Circle, together with Struggle of Love Foundation, Families Against Violent Acts, Therapists of Color Coalition, Academy 360, Mental Health Center of Denver, and Steps To Success Montbello. Learn more at www.montbelloorganizing.org.

YOUTH FUNDING OPPORTUNITY PROPOSALS DUE TOMORROW

With the launch of our Youth call for proposals last month, Caring for Denver Foundation hopes to provide funding for programs that will support communities and empower youth to be a part of efforts to address mental health and substance misuse issues early, and improve youth resilience and coping mechanisms with life’s stresses and pressures. Thank you to those who’ve already submitted a proposal. Visit our grants page to learn more about applying and to view the Call for Proposals.

With the launch of our Youth call for proposals, Caring for Denver Foundation hopes to provide funding for programs that will support communities and empower youth to be a part of efforts to address mental health and substance misuse issues early, and improve youth resilience and coping mechanisms with life’s stresses and pressures.

More than 50 young people across the City of Denver contributed to the development of the Youth call for proposals by sharing their suggestions and experiences surrounding these issues. We have heard a great deal from youth and adults about the importance of youth leadership. Following are some of their thoughts and hopes.

YOUTH FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DATES
Dec. 7: Register in system
Dec. 17: Proposals due

Thank you to those who joined our Facebook Live Forum today! Find the recording on our Facebook page and our website. Visit our grants page to learn more about applying and to view the Call for Proposals.

YOUTH:
“Experience of others who are in recovery is valuable – sharing those struggles and how they got through it…walking in the same shoes, that is what makes all of this work. Can’t relate or trust someone who hasn’t walked in my shoes.”

“Youth voice is important because without our voice how can adults create a change for something related to what we are going through.”

“The topics of substance misuse and mental health has been taboo to every generation before our generation, so we are building this framework from the ground up to support people with mental health/substance misuse issues. Youth are essentially advocating for themselves.”

Among the young people interviewed, all of them either knew someone with mental health or substance misuse issues or had experienced these challenges themselves – because of this, they emphasized the importance of being advocates for themselves and each other.

YOUTH: 
“Kids aren’t feeling connected to counselors, in schools and other places, because the counselor doesn’t relate and doesn’t have the same lived experience.”

“Youth leadership can make a difference in addressing mental health and substance use through elevating each other’s voices to be heard while understanding action-oriented options to make a change for my peers.”

“Youth need to see mental health and substance misuse issues being talked about honestly and supportively in public spaces. Those who suffer from these problems have a constant feeling of needing to hide their struggle from others, and this isolation only makes the problem worse.”

YOUTH:
“Lots of awareness about it. What it can do to your life, health, how to help yourself get better. Supportive community where things like this are normalized.”

“Outreach should be done before the crisis point in a person’s life, not after.”

“I hope in the next two to three years we are definitely able to reduce or eliminate youth violence while seeing more youth-focused groups that address those who feel helpless or uncomfortable speaking with others to find encouragement in those spaces.”

“To hear, see, and share in the involved youth-focused work being made to address both mental health/substance misuse while learning new ways to increase more engagement for us all.”

“If every person in Denver knew of at least one resource that they trusted well enough to reach out to, I think that would be a success.”

Trust is a huge issue for youth facing these problems; with the risk of negative consequences such as loss of freedom, many young people don’t want to reach out to anyone. As one student put it, “Youth want schools to be a better support but worry about being penalized. If the immediate response by programs/systems is mandatory reporting, then they aren’t going to be trusted.”

The challenge is to find a balance between safety (which is the goal of mandatory reporting) and trusted, compassionate support for young people. Additionally, young people reported that they would like to see increased access to mental health resources and workshops, greater networks for peer support, and decreased stigma around mental illness and substance misuse.