Officials with the state’s new mental health hotline say about a third of the people calling have an immediate safety concern.
The line is now getting about 225 calls a day since it launched this summer. It’s part of the Governor Hickenlooper’s plan to improve behavioral health services in Colorado after the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.
The group, Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners, managed a metro Denver mental health help line and now runs the statewide service.
CEO Bev Marquez says she wants people to know it’s a one-stop-shop to find help.
"We will be available for a very broad continuum, and not a door to an existing provider system," she says. "It will be immediate access to professionals anytime day or night."
She says the goal is to more than double the daily call volume to 500, after the state starts a formal campaign later this year to reduce the stigma around asking for help.
The hotline's number is 844-493-TALK (8255).
