Free summer day camp for kids in grades K through 8 creates a sense of well-being for families in Mancos, where resources are sparse when school is out.
youth suicide
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: We won’t end youth violence until we deal with the traumas that precede it
We need public policies that prioritize trauma recognition and resolution – before it explodes into a crime or implodes into suicide.
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: Too many Colorado students grapple with anxiety and depression alone
A proposal in the General Assembly to screen children in grades 6-12 would take pressure off kids to evaluate themselves.
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s governor funds new programs to add more youth psychiatric beds amid mental health crisis
Colorado’s youth mental health crisis has reached worst-yet status, as evidenced by recent outcries from the health care, child welfare and juvenile corrections systems. A recap of the just the past few months: Nearly every district attorney in the state signed a letter saying there are no beds for kids in distress who’ve been arrested […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Medical professionals agree we should protect students’ health this fall. We don’t agree on how.
As a community pediatrician and parent of three school-aged children, I can tell you that not all pediatric medical providers agree with the recent letter sent to Gov. Jared Polis and leaders of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment by the Colorado Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in collaboration with state […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, Health, News
On Edge: After wanting to die, an Aurora teen is now learning to live
Navee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts. More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to have a close family and strong support system, academic and athletic talent, ease making friends, and the kind of smarts, beauty and confidence that make […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, Politics and Government
On Edge: In the wake of furloughs, closings, suicides, a Breckenridge businessman searches for balance
Dick Carleton came to Breckenridge from Virginia when he was 24. He had a business degree from Virginia Tech, a ‘69 Volkwagen bug, $100 and three friends willing to share a crappy two-bedroom condo with no insulation. It was awful. It was glorious. He was “full of rebel spirit” in a town of kindreds and […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News
Coronavirus-related calls are dominating Colorado’s mental health crisis hotline
About 60% of calls to Colorado’s crisis hotline this month had the same theme: the new coronavirus. Callers are isolated and anxious. Some are stressed because the pandemic cost them their jobs or reduced their income. Others are overwhelmed by spending whole days with their families and helping kids with online school. And some are […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Wilson: Denver’s Art from Ashes transforms pain into power in struggling youth
When a teen’s suicide is prevented by a notepad and a pen, you take notice. When a poetry program does this for more than 14,000 youth without the slightest bit of fanfare, you scratch your head. Why isn’t Art from Ashes on billboards already? Why aren’t they in every school, every youth treatment center and […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Teen suicide has become normalized in our state. This is a crisis.
Earlier this year, the United Health Foundation reported that youth suicide in Colorado has grown at a rate of 59% over the past three years. According to this study, teen suicide now accounts for one out of every five adolescent deaths, and our teen suicide rate has grown at a rate nearly double the national […]