One in four Coloradans — and more than 32% of Puebloans — surveyed by the Colorado Health Institute in 2023 reported having poor mental health.
The biannual Colorado Health Access Survey defines poor mental health as having eight or more days of poor mental health in the month prior to the respondent taking the survey.
Pueblo County had one of the highest rates of any region in the state, with 32.4% of Puebloans reporting poor mental health.
Younger adults reported the most serious mental health challenges, with more than one-third of statewide respondents between the ages of 18 and 50 in poor mental health. More than 16% of children ages 5 to 17 also reported poor mental health.
Some of Pueblo's mental health providers recently sat down with the Chieftain to discuss local services, and where people struggling with their mental health may fall through the cracks.
Access to resources and the stigma of mental health
In the Colorado Health Access Survey, 57.2% of respondents across the state who did not receive mental health care reported that the lack of availability of appointments was the largest barrier to service.
Jason Chippeaux, CEO of the integrated healthcare organization Health Solutions, said the nonprofit's clients generally report high levels of satisfaction in several critical areas, including convenient appointment times, locations, and help rendered in the manner expected, according to an internal quarterly survey conducted by Health Solutions.
"We feel like Health Solutions does a very good job at creating those access points that work for clients in the various communities that we serve," Chippeaux said.
Health Solutions offers a variety of services across the spectrum for prevention, behavioral health, primary care and substance use disorder. "Those services take a variety of formats, with services based on the needs of the clients and their families," Chippeaux said.
Heather Hankins, chief clinical officer at Health Solutions, stated that in an effort to better serve the needs of clients proactively, Health Solutions will be opening a new "Youth and Family Center of Excellence" at its 1591 Taos Road location, with construction to be completed this summer.
"Really anything that a family needs is going to be located at that site," Hankins said. "We'll have primary care, we'll have behavioral health, we hope to expand where we can have occupational therapy, speech therapy, and really support the family as a unit with anything that they need."
Hankins noted that this expansion will allow a family to "get a wellness check, see a behavioral health clinician, maybe get resources for food or for work."
Hankins said that this step was taken to "meet clients upstream" and provide proactive resources, which is the most likely way to see the best outcomes available for individuals.
"We start our services at birth, so we're really working with the parents and the child from the very beginning, helping to build those skills, the relationship. Prevention is our primary goal, so getting upstream would be the best potential of all the services we have."
Chippeaux noted that 80% of what drives wellness is access to resources and opportunities, referred to in the healthcare industry as social determinants of health.
As such, there are certain areas where Pueblo faces challenges in providing good mental health outcomes for its residents, Chippeaux said.
"I think we still do have childhood and early childhood development challenges, that's some of why we're extending our service line at that campus," he said. "We do have food deserts in our community, where access to nutritious, affordable food is problematic. The rising housing cost is also creating challenges, so financial wellness services is an area that may be helpful to our community."
Chippeaux noted that there were also funding challenges to "crucial" preventative services, "so those service lines tend to be minimized in many communities across the country," he said.
Chippeaux also addressed the issue of stigma in preventing people from accessing mental health services.
According to the Colorado Health Access Survey, 22.7% of those who did not get mental health services stated that stigma played a part.
"We want to normalize help-seeking behaviors," Chippeaux said. "People should feel confident and free in engaging activities that support and uplift their mental health. We should get rid of the stigma and embrace that mental health wellness is wellness in and of itself."
Health Solutions can be reached at 719-545-2746.
Services for people who need help with both mental health and addiction
A new $5.4 million rehabilitation center for Crossroads Turning Points, a substance use disorder intervention and treatment provider, is nearing completion at 355 E. Spaulding Ave. in Pueblo West, where it will house the 20-bed Pueblo Circle Program. The program offers high-level substance abuse and mental health treatment for patients who have co-occurring disorders.
Crossroads Turning Points Chief Operations and Innovations Officer Rob Archuleta said the new center will open within the next two months and will offer much-needed space for the program, which is currently operating out of 1711 E. Evans Ave. in Pueblo.
"The big thing Pueblo has needed is a way for people to navigate through all the issues from mental health and wellness to addiction to not having housing because they are all intertwined together. We want to make sure we are addressing all those issues simultaneously," Archuleta said.
"If we are treating the whole person they can be self-sustaining, healthy, happy, and can have purpose. That is the goal of all the treatment providers in Pueblo and the thing that I've seen since the COVID pandemic — we've never had community collaboration the way we have now," Archuleta explained.
Archuleta said law enforcement partnerships are "unprecedented."
"We know we are not going to arrest our way out of this problem — it is how do we de-stigmatize addiction and treat them with dignity," he said.
Crossroads has two new programs aimed at improving collaboration with law enforcement.
The Post Partum and Pregnant Women program allows women to bring their children up to age five into treatment with them at the 20-bed campus located at 3500 Baltimore Ave. The program offers child development specialists who work with families.
The PIVOT program is a behavioral health treatment program focused on criminal justice system-involved individuals, offering everything from mental health assessments to peer services with others who have lived through similar experiences. That program is located at 121 E. Northern Ave.
"Any level of support that they are asking for, if they are justice-involved, they just walk in and we've got them. We try to build that bridge between probation and parole and make sure they understand how to navigate the system," Archuleta said.
Find out more about Crossroads programs at crossroadstp.org.
Celebrate Recovery offers classes, support for people battling addiction and other mental health issues
Run by Pastor Rob Reyes, Celebrate Recovery is a 12-step faith-based recovery program out of Praise Assembly Of God Church.
Reyes stated that participants do not have to believe in God, just be open to listening to information presented and come to meetings.
The program has been running out of Praise Assembly for the last eight years.
"We help people with hurts, habits, and hang-ups," Reyes said. "We don't like to pigeonhole ourselves into drugs and alcohol, because it's a whole mind, body, and soul holistic approach with Christ at the center. We help people with all kinds of different issues, mental health, addiction, bitterness, resentment, lying, cheating, stealing, anything that would cause you to do things you normally wouldn't do if you're healthy."
Reyes stated the program is well attended, with about 100 attendees a week.
He said that he used to be an addict and an alcoholic, and was motivated by his past to help others. "I didn't know how to deal with life on its own terms. I had some things happen to me as a child I didn't know how to deal with and some things that happened in my high school years that just compounded my issues and then I turned to drugs and alcohol to try to cope with things ... I ended up in the back alleys of Colfax Avenue in Denver."
However, Reyes said that even though he experienced a lot of pain, he doesn't know if, given the opportunity, he would turn back the clock, as his experiences gave him the chance to overcome "with the help of God" and in turn help others in similar situations.
At Celebrate Recovery, Reyes aims to not just address problems, but their root causes.
"A lot of it comes from abuse in the family — maybe someone was sexually, mentally, physically abusive to the individual. That causes problems that people don't often want to talk about ... a lot of neglect, fatherless homes, that's also a big problem we see in Pueblo," he said.
Reyes said that he believes Pueblo had plenty of resources to support mental health and recovery; the issue, he said, is knowing where to find them.
People suffering from addiction also have to be "willing and ready" to embrace the resources available, usually "when their pain is greater than their fear to change."
Meetings begin at 6 p.m. at Praise Assembly, located at 2000 Troy Avenue on Thursday. At 7:30 p.m., the meetings break out into small group meetings. Small groups consist of men's and women's addiction and men's and women's life issues groups, along with a "mental health" group.
A free meal is offered before the meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Other mental health service providers for people in Pueblo County
For Puebloans who need help with their mental health, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment features resources, data and tips on its webpage, which includes a list of local mental health service providers.
Here are some of the local providers who offer services for mental health, according to PDPHE:
- A New Leaf Therapyanewleaftherapy.org(719) 948-7120
- Associates for Psychotherapy & Educationaforp.com(719) 564-9039
- Crossroads Turning Pointscrossroadstp.org(719) 546-6666
- Health Solutionshealth.solutions(719) 545-2746
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)namisoutheastco.org(719) 315-4975
- UCHealth Behavioral Health Clinic – Pueblo uchealth.org/locations/uchealth-behavioral-health-clinic-pueblo/ 719-584-4767
- Pueblo Senior Resource Development Agency (2-1-1)srda.org(719) 583-6611
- Pueblo Community Health Center (PCHC)pueblochc.org(719) 543-8711
- Springbok HealthSpringbokhealth.us(719) 766-8511
Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formally known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
