Grace Franklin, public health director for San Miguel County, confirmed with the Forum that the county is upgrading its behavioral health strategic plan. The work is only to see what needs to be improved and how citizens may be better served.
Franklin shared that previously there was a behavioral health collaborative, a small group in the county, that had developed a strategic plan for supporting mental health. That work was initially done in 2016 and continued through 2019. That plan helped with some grants and then the mill levy that passed, the behavioral health fund which supports counseling services and more for those that qualify.
A year or two ago, the behavioral health collaborative and a solutions panel that was overseeing the mill levy got a message from those doing the same work in Eagle County. Representatives from Eagle County reached out to San Miguel County officials, because they were making their own changes and wanted to share their process. As they were looking at their own gaps and needs in behavioral health care, representatives from San Miguel County realized they needed to refresh their own plan too.
As the local revamp began, San Miguel County officials hired a contractor, and after receiving many RFPs, the Steadman Group was hired to facilitate. The Steadman Group came into San Miguel County, did interviews and managed focus groups. They analyzed data and have been sorting through it the last few months.
On May 29, there will be a meeting, so that those involved in the work can come together and talk about some of the findings. Those findings will be used for the greater strategic plan update.
“We will review it and go through it together,” Franklin said.
The Forum asked if current behavioral health services will basically continue, or even be expanded. Franklin said the county “will not stop doing anything.”
She said it’s about moving forward.
“We made huge progress in 2016 to 2019 in behavioral health,” she said. “The landscape we live in now — how can we continue to improve our systems? How do we de-silo institutions and make access easier?”
She added community connection is a theme that keeps coming up. She’s also a part of conversations about substance abuse and misuse. She’s hearing that there are no real sober spaces for people to gather in San Miguel County. She said the free counseling services through the mill levy are definitely being utilized, and in fact, funding tends to run out by fall. She said people report gratitude for the Axis partner in Norwood, which takes Medicaid insurance.
The gaps and needs that have been established by the recent work through Steadman will be published in a month or two on the county website. By August, those results will be presented to the behavioral health collaborative and commissioners before they’re finalized.
“We are building on the steps, and it’s collaborative,” she said.
Franklin said it’s about revisioning what’s been the current plan and asking how the county can do better.
“How can we build on the work we’ve already done to make behavioral health services more accessible? — and meet the needs of our community better?” she said.
