The documentary ended with the promise of reform from
government leaders. But like many aspects of American life during this
pandemic, these existing problems are getting worse because of the COVID-19
outbreak and the associated economic fallout.
When Governor Jared Polis took office last year, he
established a behavioral health task force, and asked them to reform the
state’s troubled mental health system.
Robert Werthwein, the state’s director of the Office of
Behavioral Health, says the task force was motivated to make big changes — then
COVID-19 struck.
Now, with the state budget in tatters, Werthwein says the
short-term focus has shifted from overhauling the system to simply trying to
preserve what is already in place.
“Any time we’re talking about reducing or not being able to
evolve our services, it sets us back and it sets Coloradans back in getting the
services they need. It’s gonna probably take a little longer for the vision
that we have to help all Coloradans. I don’t know what that looks like exactly
though at this time,” Werthwein said.
He said the task force has proposed using some federal
opioid grants to help offset proposed cuts to jail-based mental health
programs. The state will need to find other ways to cut costs and fill gaps left
by the budget crisis.
“It means that we’re going to have to be creative in how we
mitigate, and look at the best fiscal options that are available to us,
telehealth being one of them, and do our best to mitigate as much as possible
the impact of budget cuts and COVID,” Werthwein said.
There may already be a road map on how to cut some costs.
Before the coronavirus hit, the state completed a fiscal analysis examining how the state’s
mental health budget was being spent. Werthwein said the analysis identified
several costly inefficiencies that put obstacles between Coloradans and the
mental health care they need.
“I think there are ways for us to be more strategic across
the state and work together more collaboratively so we can make a single dollar
go further, which is more important now than ever before,” Werthwein said.
The behavioral health director said the people who shared
their stories in Breakdown made a big impact on the task force and
“re-energized” their work.
“Putting real faces and real names and real people
struggling day in and day out through all the communities in Colorado … we
cannot stop our work. And that’s why you feel me pushing a little bit. When we
talk about budget, it’s going to have an impact. But for me, we can’t stop
moving forward because there are real lives here,” Werthwein said.
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