Jeanne Ritter's Mental Health Tour In Aspen

Jeanne Ritter has been all over the state hearing about the problems of mental health, substance abuse and the lack of treatment in Colorado, especially with the focus of the overuse of jails and prisons to warehouse people who are sick. The real issue is whether Gov. Ritter will listen.

Just like for most locals, affordability and housing are some of the more-pressing issues that mental health professionals are facing. Most of them agree that the financial stress of living here -- and the heavy emphasis on partying and the good life -- exacerbates mental health issues. But until yesterday, there wasn't a real forum for them to talk about it.

About 50 local mental health professionals gathered at the Hotel Jerome yesterday afternoon for the first gathering of its kind in recent memory. Organized by the Aspen Valley Medical Foundation and coinciding with a three-day psychiatry conference at the Given Institute, the AVMF Mental Health Convocation allowed local psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists to gather in one room, listen to a respected speaker and, most importantly, talk to each other. It was also part of Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter's "listening tour" -- a statewide journey to understand various Colorado communities' mental health issues and make them more visible.

"We were brought together around the same kind of hearth," said local therapist Dr. Joel Brence about the importance of the event. "And everyone gets it!"

AVMF mental health symposiums the last two years were open to the public, but this was the first only for the practitioners, which allowed them to speak more in-depth about certain topics. After a very technical keynote address by Dr. Robert Freedman, chair of the psychiatry department at the University of Colorado in Denver, attendees split into groups to discuss some of the questions raised.

In terms of the greatest professional challenges of practicing in the Roaring Fork Valley, "about half my cases have housing issues," Vince Savage, director of the foundation's Valley Information and Assistance program, told his group.

The lack of a facility for adults and kids with mental problems is a major issue, said Mark Fishbein, a psychologist who contracts with the Pitkin County Jail.

An intensive outpatient facility and a safe place for children caught in abuse cases are planned for Glenwood Springs, but currently the closest holding facility is in Grand Junction. So "the jail has become the default location and that puts us (mental health workers) in a quandary because we're not in the corrections business," said Fishbein.
Aspen Daily