Pueblo won’t have a “good grasp” on addressing homelessness until it figures out how to provide mental health treatment that could help stabilize people who are unhoused, Mayor Nick Gradisar said at a community forum earlier this month. 

Gradisar, speaking to community members who attended the forum, said that Pueblo isn’t “going to get a good grasp on the homeless situation in Pueblo at least until we figure out a way to provide mental health treatment that will get people stabilized.” 

Gradisar, before delivering that thought, was asked by an attendee what the city’s plan was to provide help for people who are homeless, particularly with the frigid winter months ahead. 

Gradisar responded by saying there are numerous agencies who offer services to people who are homeless and that it’s his plan for the city to contract with outside organizations to shelter the homeless this winter. He told The Chieftain it’s not his intent as mayor for the city to “get into the homelessness business” but rather provide assistance to agencies that are serving that population.

“The city doesn’t know how to deal with homeless people,” Gradisar said. “Our staff aren’t prepared to do that. There are organizations out there — that is their mission and that is what they do. They do it much better than the city ever could.”

Why improving mental health treatment is a focus for city, Gradisar

Gradisar said based on data he has reviewed, mental illness ranks as one of the top conditions affecting people in Pueblo who are homeless. He suspects that’s partially the case because the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo closed some of its beds during the COVID-19 pandemic and Parkview closed its 25-bed, in-patient adult psychiatric unit last year. 

In 2019, a Pueblo point-in-time count, which tabulated the number of people experiencing homelessness in Pueblo County, revealed nearly one-in-four respondents to the count’s survey reported having a serious mental illness. 

As of Aug. 14, results from Pueblo’s latest point-in-time count, completed earlier this year, had not yet been released. Some local homeless advocates suspect the number of Pueblo’s homeless has grown since that count tallied at least 500 of them in 2019. Pueblo Triple Arm last year estimated there were 700 to 800 people who were homeless in Pueblo. 

“We’ve got to figure out a way to deliver mental health services to those homeless who are afflicted with this mental health disorder,” Gradisar told The Chieftain. “Otherwise, all the housing in the world won’t make a difference.” 

Gradisar last week attended meetings in California on how to address mental health and homelessness. He said he planned to “bring back new ideas and proven research for intervention, services and overall health” in Pueblo. 

Health Solutions is one of a few local agencies that can provide mental health services for people who are homeless. Local homeless advocates have directed some among that population to certain agencies and mental health services, but have acknowledged how receiving treatment for it isn’t always linear, whether that’s because they don’t have the required documents or they experience lengthy wait times. 

More:Pueblo nonprofit seeks to help homeless at new wellness center

Some organizations, such as Crazy Faith Street Ministry and Pueblo Rescue Mission, are exploring opportunities where they’d be able to offer mental health services under the same roof of a homeless shelter. The Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association plans to offer an access point to behavioral health providers for unhoused people when it opens its planned wellness center.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

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Health Solutions Adult Outpatient Medical clinic at 1304 Chinook Lane.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Pueblo organizations are stressing the importance of mental health while trying to break down the stigma often attached to seeking mental health services.

Health Solutions last weekend sponsored a Mental Health Awareness Block Party at El Pueblo History Museum and has been hosting other outreach activities this month to alert the community to the services it offers.

It’s all part of an effort to address mental health needs in Pueblo, which continue to grow post-pandemic, said Jason Chippeaux, CEO of Health Solutions.

The center also seeks to reduce stigmas associated with mental health services and loops education into that effort. Chippeaux said reducing stigmas are “critical” and normalizing the behavioral health system is a large part of Health Solutions’ focus.

“What’s at stake is what makes it so significant,” Chippeaux said. “Anything that creates a barrier between an individual needing care and getting care is problematic fundamentally because of the high-stakes nature of these illnesses.”

According to a 2021 survey from the Colorado Health Institute, 33.1% of Puebloans ages 16 or older who took the survey reported that their mental health declined after the pandemic started.

The same survey revealed that nearly one in four (23.9%) Puebloans ages five or older reported feeling “poor mental health” for a stretch of eight or more days over a 30-day period. That number has risen significantly since 2015, when 15.4% of those surveyed reported poor mental health.

Chippeaux feels the 2021 number could actually be higher, since the results only encompass individuals who participated in the survey.

“There certainly has been an increased need on the other side of the pandemic,” Chippeaux said. “The interest in our services and the volume of services that we are offering and number of clients we’re seeing is definitely increasing. That leads me to think that the need is growing, and we are certainly trying to grow along with that need to make sure that those in our community who need that care have that as an option.”

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Health Solutions, on average, sees between 550 to 600 clients daily through its different services and offerings, Chippeaux said. The center’s requests for services are now constant throughout the year, he said, compared to five to seven years ago, when that need was more seasonal.

Pueblo services, partnerships tackling mental health

One in five adults each year in the United States experiences a mental illness, according to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, and nearly one in 25 adults live with a serious mental illness.

Health Solutions works closely with the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment to increase access to behavioral health resources to address those illnesses. The mental health services provider also has partnerships with Pueblo County School District 70 and Pueblo School District 60 that entail clinicians offering services in multiple schools across both districts.

Health Solutions also partners with the Colorado Department of Human Services to connect people to resources, Chippeaux said.

More: Health Solutions opens new center to promote early childhood development

“Health Solutions encourages individuals to engage in effective ways to reduce the burden of mental illness such as prevention, early identification and early intervention. This may also reduce the burden of other chronic conditions,” according to a Health Solutions news release.

Other agencies and community members have sounded the alarm on the need to expand local mental health resources. The city of Pueblo recently obtained a state grant that will bolster the Pueblo Police Department’s peer support group, and some D60 students last month protested before a school board meeting to plead for more mental health resources.

‘Mental health is health’

To reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, the phrase “mental health is health” has been used more prominently in recent years. The phrase seeks to show that mental health equally important to one’s physical health, which typically isn’t as stigmatized.

“Mental health is health,” Ron-Li Liaw of Children’s Hospital Colorado told Tribal Radio’s Sarah Flower during a 29-minute interview last month. “I think we are repeating this … there’s always been historically a lot of stigma around mental health, which makes it different to talk about.

“Our young people have a different vocabulary, language and comfort level in sharing their struggles and supporting each other and talking about mental health challenges and substance use, addiction issues and trauma in a way that our previous generations really (didn’t),” he said.

For more information about Health Solutions or its services, call 719-542-5647 or visit www.health.solutions.

To reach Colorado Crisis Services, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo providers raising awareness of the importance of mental health

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