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  • Blogs
    • Val's Blog
    • Val's Blog 2
    • ​TRANSLATIONAL/ ​TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MONDAY
    • NEURO-DIVERSITY Wednesday
    • Olmstead Law & Order Thursday
    • Translational Medicine Friday
    • Translational Love, Relationships & Neuro-Diversity Saturday
  • Orchid's A-Z Index
    • Crisis Services in CO, the US & Around the World
    • Assertive Community Treatment & Flexible ACT Index
    • Housing & Homelessness Index
    • Criminal Justice
    • Innovation Index
    • For More: See the Main Orchid Index Page
  • US Federal
    • THE IMD RULE & ADMIN. ENFORCEMENT OF DISABILITY CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
    • Medicaid & Supportive Housing & Housing-Related Services
    • CMS' FAILURE TO COVER HOUSING FOR LTC & THE IMD RULE: WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS DISCRIMINATION
    • National Take
  • Research & Translational Medicine
    • Immunology & Mental Health >
      • Alcoholism & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Brain Injury, the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Celiac Disease & Sensitivities, the Immune System & Mental Illness
      • Mental Illness & The Immune System
      • Racial Discrimination & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Trauma & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • ***Physical Health Issues, the Immune System & Mental Health Index
    • University of Chicago: Institute of Translational Medicine
  • Hot Topics
    • What We Want --- SAMHSA Grant Opportunities Due Jan. 22, 2019
    • Anti-Social Personality Disorder >
      • DECONSTRUCTING ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER AND PSYCHOPATHY: A GUIDELINES-BASED APPROACH TO PREJUDICIAL PSYCHIATRIC LABELS [Hofstra Law Review 2013]
      • Personality Disorders -- Unscientific & Vague -- Must Be Reformed
    • Executive Functioning & "Prison Brain" >
      • Job Accommodation Network on Executive Functioning Deficits
    • Medicaid & Medicare Network Adequacy >
      • OIG: STATE STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Sept. 2014)
      • OIG: ACCESS TO CARE: PROVIDER AVAILABILITY IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Dec. 2014)
      • GAO 15-710: MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: Actions Needed to Enhance CMS Oversight of Provider Network Adequacy (Aug. 2015)
      • CMS: Promoting Access in Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care: A Toolkit for Ensuring Provider Network Adequacy and Service Availability (April 2017)
    • Medicaid Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Parity >
      • CMS Parity Compliance Toolkit Applying Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs [Jan. 17, 2017]
      • Frequently Asked Questions: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Final Rule for Medicaid and CHIP [CMS October 11, 2017]
    • Olmstead Disability Rights >
      • Statement of the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. (2011)
      • Comprehensive Olmstead Planning
      • the Logical Long Term Consequences of our failure to provide Intensive Community MH Treatment
      • Olmstead Nation ---State Pages: How Far to Comply with Olmstead?
  • Take A Walk Around Orchid's Resource Block
  • Colorado Abuse & Neglect Scandals Involving People with Disabilities
  • Mental Health By The Numbers
  • New Science Is Amazing AND It Has HUGE Moral Implications for Our Society: NOW
  • Olmstead & Homelessness
  • Double V
  • " 'Defund the Police" Means 'Invest in the Resources Our Communities Need' " or Don't Cost Shift to the Police
  • VAGUE OLMSTEAD PLANS, EXPENSIVE LITIGATION
  • Updating & Reforming our Understanding & Treatment of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" Blog
  • Reform of " Anti-Social Personality Disorder" in Criminal Justice
  • CO HB22-1278
  • New Understandings Matter
  • Mental Health, Ethics & Law
  • CO Olmstead Disability Homeless Law & Policy Project
  • Inflammation, the Immune System, Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Substance Use Issues & Chronic Disease
  • Microglia and the Brain's Immune System
  • Substance Issues & the Immune System

Money, Children's Mental Health & Integrating the Police with Public Health

11/23/2021

 
​$150 Million and more is the level of yearly additional money investment Colorado needs to make in Cognitive Disability Care, Treatment and Supported Employment for at least the next 10 years.

Further, as we're INTEGRATING Physical and Mental Health Care --- we need to be INTEGRATING LAW ENFORCEMENT and PUBLIC SAFETY with PUBLIC HEALTH --- which we are starting to do on a more and more systematic basis.

The call to "ABOLISH the POLICE" --- did get walked back or clarified to say --- we need to "RE-IMAGINE the POLICE."

Further, if we do "RE-IMAGINE the POLICE" --- we could give people in LAW ENFORCEMENT a much EXPANDED CAREER LADDER.
​---News Channel 13 KRDO -- Colorado Springs

Childrens Hospital Colorado advocates for 150 million in funding to address mental health crisis impacting kids
Mental Health by the Numbers

October 07th, 2021

10/7/2021

 
​Val's Take
  • Homelessness is NOT just a MUNICIPAL ISSUE.
  • For people who are HOMELESS as a result of PHYSICAL and/or COGNITIVE DISABILITY --- that is an Olmstead Issue --- that is a STATE ISSUE.
Channel 9 News
(Oct. 2021)
​
​Arrest Made in Shooting of Man Going Through Trash
NBC News (July 2021)
​Homelessness Surged in Denver --- So the City Built Campsites

Transcript of Gov. Polis' 2020 State of the State address

1/10/2020

 
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Gov. Polis. Photo Credit: Denver7
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Orchid's 
Take

  • "EFFICIENCY" is one way to look @ the world -- and when it comes to Behavioral Health -- it is not exactly wrong.
  • So Voluntary SCREENING & DATA Collection regarding level of care needs could be considered "EFFICIENT," and essential for Medicaid Network Adequacy.
  • Colorado's great needs, like most States, are at the High End of the Continuum of Care -- both with respect to ACUITY and COST.  That's a SCARY thing for politicians to address -- and it is why they generally don't.  It is even scarier for Individuals and Families.
  • So when you start talking about "EFFICIENCY" does that mean one is going to continue to SIDESTEP one of the CRUCIAL Issues of our time, namely the care and treatment of people with the most significant and serious mental health needs?  It sure sounds like it.
  • Further, ultimately we  must have better treatments.  That is a lot of what Federal CURES Legislation was about.
  • At the State Level, Colorado could push for the development of a Mental Health ​Center of Excellence at UC Health in line with UC Health's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Last year, I appointed a Behavioral Health Task Force to conduct a top-to-bottom review of Colorado’s behavioral health system and author a strategic plan for reform by June of this year.

Our state already spends $1.4 billion on mental and behavioral health we need to make our system more efficient so we can help more people get the care they need.

I want to thank CDHS Director Michele Barnes, and Representatives Lois Landgraf, Tracy KraftTharp, and Dafna Michaelson Jenet for their work on the Behavioral Health Task Force, and Senator Brittany Pettersen and Rep. Chris Kennedy and the members of the Opioid Study Committee for their work.

​I look forward to collaborating with you all on desperately-needed reforms.

The Challenge of a Frustrated Society

​Our take on Gov. Polis' concerning brief comments on behavioral health.

The comments are representative of a society that is spending a lot on behavioral health and not always getting a lot to show for it -- and by and large that is NOT because people aren't trying.

Further, we really haven't come to terms with essentially  Long Term Rehabilitative & Custodial Care for serious cognitive disability.

That is not most people with mental illness -- but it is Thousands of people in Colorado.

We need holistic housing solutions

1/9/2020

 
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Affordable housing, coupled with supportive behavioral and mental health services, substance abuse treatment, trauma-informed care, employment and education, food, child care and transportation are all foundational to public safety and security.

​We need to build coalitions across sectors — coalitions that imagine a racially diverse Colorado Springs that provides economic opportunity and inclusive housing solutions to its citizens.


     Programs like Housing First, which provide housing to people experiencing homelessness so they are better equipped to handle mental health and substance abuse issues, are working throughout the world.

Bloomberg even reported in 2019 that homelessness in Finland has fallen 40 percent over the last decade, thanks to this model.


     All things are possible. Do we have the will?

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DiverseCity Columnist Patience Kabassa
    Garden of the Gods
    Colorado Springs, CO


    Colorado Take

    Very Selected Colorado Media Stories on Cognitive Disability (primarily Brain Injury, Mental Illness, Substance Issues and Developmental Disabilities)

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    January 2020

    Categories

    All
    Behavioral Health Task Force
    Bloomberg
    CDHS Director Michele Barnes
    Coalitions
    Colorado Gov. Polis
    Colorado Public Radio (CPR)
    Colorado Springs Independent
    Denver7
    DiverseCity Columnist Patience Kabassa
    Finland
    Holistic Housing Solutions
    Housing First

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Crisis Services in Colorado, the US & Around the World

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  • Home
    • About Orchid >
      • Why Orchid?
      • ORCHID'S SYSTEMIC FOCUS & "ROOT CAUSE" ANALYSIS APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING WITH A COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY & INNOVATION
      • Disclaimers, Limitations and An Invitation
      • Orchid Board
      • Orchid Book Club
      • Conjecture, Science & Translational Research & Medicine
      • Orchid Themes & Symbols
      • The Tipping Point
      • Orchid's Website Advertising Policy
      • Statement for Potential Website Contributors
      • Contact
  • Blogs
    • Val's Blog
    • Val's Blog 2
    • ​TRANSLATIONAL/ ​TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MONDAY
    • NEURO-DIVERSITY Wednesday
    • Olmstead Law & Order Thursday
    • Translational Medicine Friday
    • Translational Love, Relationships & Neuro-Diversity Saturday
  • Orchid's A-Z Index
    • Crisis Services in CO, the US & Around the World
    • Assertive Community Treatment & Flexible ACT Index
    • Housing & Homelessness Index
    • Criminal Justice
    • Innovation Index
    • For More: See the Main Orchid Index Page
  • US Federal
    • THE IMD RULE & ADMIN. ENFORCEMENT OF DISABILITY CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
    • Medicaid & Supportive Housing & Housing-Related Services
    • CMS' FAILURE TO COVER HOUSING FOR LTC & THE IMD RULE: WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS DISCRIMINATION
    • National Take
  • Research & Translational Medicine
    • Immunology & Mental Health >
      • Alcoholism & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Brain Injury, the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Celiac Disease & Sensitivities, the Immune System & Mental Illness
      • Mental Illness & The Immune System
      • Racial Discrimination & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • Trauma & the Immune System & Mental Health
      • ***Physical Health Issues, the Immune System & Mental Health Index
    • University of Chicago: Institute of Translational Medicine
  • Hot Topics
    • What We Want --- SAMHSA Grant Opportunities Due Jan. 22, 2019
    • Anti-Social Personality Disorder >
      • DECONSTRUCTING ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER AND PSYCHOPATHY: A GUIDELINES-BASED APPROACH TO PREJUDICIAL PSYCHIATRIC LABELS [Hofstra Law Review 2013]
      • Personality Disorders -- Unscientific & Vague -- Must Be Reformed
    • Executive Functioning & "Prison Brain" >
      • Job Accommodation Network on Executive Functioning Deficits
    • Medicaid & Medicare Network Adequacy >
      • OIG: STATE STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Sept. 2014)
      • OIG: ACCESS TO CARE: PROVIDER AVAILABILITY IN MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (Dec. 2014)
      • GAO 15-710: MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: Actions Needed to Enhance CMS Oversight of Provider Network Adequacy (Aug. 2015)
      • CMS: Promoting Access in Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care: A Toolkit for Ensuring Provider Network Adequacy and Service Availability (April 2017)
    • Medicaid Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Parity >
      • CMS Parity Compliance Toolkit Applying Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs [Jan. 17, 2017]
      • Frequently Asked Questions: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Final Rule for Medicaid and CHIP [CMS October 11, 2017]
    • Olmstead Disability Rights >
      • Statement of the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. (2011)
      • Comprehensive Olmstead Planning
      • the Logical Long Term Consequences of our failure to provide Intensive Community MH Treatment
      • Olmstead Nation ---State Pages: How Far to Comply with Olmstead?
  • Take A Walk Around Orchid's Resource Block
  • Colorado Abuse & Neglect Scandals Involving People with Disabilities
  • Mental Health By The Numbers
  • New Science Is Amazing AND It Has HUGE Moral Implications for Our Society: NOW
  • Olmstead & Homelessness
  • Double V
  • " 'Defund the Police" Means 'Invest in the Resources Our Communities Need' " or Don't Cost Shift to the Police
  • VAGUE OLMSTEAD PLANS, EXPENSIVE LITIGATION
  • Updating & Reforming our Understanding & Treatment of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder" Blog
  • Reform of " Anti-Social Personality Disorder" in Criminal Justice
  • CO HB22-1278
  • New Understandings Matter
  • Mental Health, Ethics & Law
  • CO Olmstead Disability Homeless Law & Policy Project
  • Inflammation, the Immune System, Neuro-Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Substance Use Issues & Chronic Disease
  • Microglia and the Brain's Immune System
  • Substance Issues & the Immune System