The continuing behavioral and mental health struggles of citizens and an elevated number of suicides in the Yampa Valley are leading to an “all hands on deck” response as evidenced by a powerhouse of officials who gathered for the launch of the Yampa Valley Behavioral Health Coalition.

Dozens of representatives from law enforcement, school districts, public health, nonprofit agencies, medical agencies and mental health professionals gathered Monday at Library Hall in Steamboat Springs to discuss the ways the community is trying to fill behavioral health gaps.

The meeting was organized by nonprofit The Health Partnership with a goal of bringing together service providers, agencies, clinicians and community leaders to tackle behavioral health issues on a community-wide basis.

Health Partnership Executive Director Executive Brittney Wilburn told the audience that behavioral health was listed by community members surveyed as a top health care need in each of the past three cycles of the Yampa Valley Community Health Needs Assessments in 2019, 2022 and 2025.

The number of suicides in Routt and Moffat counties is another major concern, with the total number reaching 19 in 2024 and seven so far this year.

Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett has been an outspoken advocate for the need for coordinated and robust mental health services, including writing a July 7 letter published in the Steamboat Pilot & Today after a suicide death of a Steamboat Springs teenager earlier this summer.

“As a community leader and father, I’m frustrated. I’m angry,” Beckett wrote. “One of the police officers who responded has seen more suicides in his short time here than I saw in 21 years working for a large police department. These calls are incredibly impactful to our public servants and the entire community, and I’m frustrated that we have not done more for those struggling with mental crisis and behavioral health.”

“I’ve met with many community leaders and have found myself an outspoken advocate for behavioral health reform in Routt County and in Steamboat Springs,” Beckett said “I’ve seen how some of our outstanding nonprofits work to combat suicide and the behavioral health crisis. But we’re not working together. We need to do more.”

Some next steps for doing more were outlined during the coalition kick-off including the creation of a new HOPE Initiative, or Helping Others through Peer Engagement, to provide an additional, supplemental layer to the community’s mental health safety net. The initiative plans to provide a 24/7 hotline staffed by local trained peers with a goal of starting operation by Nov. 15.

The HOPE Initiative is “borne out of a desire to provide peer support to individuals who are struggling with mental health concerns but aren’t in crisis, by people with lived experience,” according to organizers.

While people in acute crisis can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and then receive help from a Mobile Crisis Team through provider Health Solutions West, the HOPE Initiative is meant to help people before they need to be assisted by a crisis team, emergency department or law enforcement.

Traci Hiatt, director of philanthropy at Yampa Valley Community Foundation, explained that social services agencies determined that the creation of the HOPE Initiative is necessary to connect residents to resources “upstream” of an acute crisis through a one-to-one hotline staffed by local individuals.

Hiatt said although people working in social services and nonprofit groups are aware of what resources are available, some overwhelmed average community members do not always find connections.

The initiative, funded for two years by an anonymous donor, plans to hire seven to 10 part-time employees who will be trained on existing resources, organizations and programs. Hiatt said a request for proposals for a supervising agency for the initiative will go out this month.

Another layer in the HOPE Initiative will be the creation of a Community Safety Team “to expand the breadth of community members who know how to talk about the hard things,” according to Hiatt.

The Community Safety Team will include volunteers who have attended “mental health first-aid trainings” to be able to connect struggling individuals to the HOPE Initiative or other community resources. Residents with questions, or who want to volunteer, can email Traci@yvcf.org.

“We need to build out an army within our community of people who are known within their circles as someone who knows what resources exist and can get people help when they need some support,” Hiatt said.

Another important mental health measure slated to go live at the end of August is the Routt County Mental Health Response Team, a new local co-responder partner program, explained Dawn Smith, sheriff’s office patrol deputy.

The team is designed to improve responses to behavioral health crises by pairing a specially trained deputy with a mental health clinician. The Routt County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center to provide the service, which is co-sponsored by UCHealth in other Colorado communities.

This co-responding partnership “aims to stabilize individuals in crisis, divert residents from unnecessary hospitalization or incarceration, and connect them with essential services,” according to a Routt County news release.

Smith said the program will start gradually with a team of one deputy and one clinician working Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Those times align with peak times for behavioral health-related calls to 911. Aside from helping individuals, the program is intended to reduce strains on emergency departments and the judicial system, officials say.

Another goal of the coalition meeting on Monday was to increase community awareness and collaboration around behavioral health. Organizers continued to emphasize use of the online Yampa Valley Resources local guide to health and well-being found at YampaValleyResources.org.

Compiled by The Health Partnership, the online guide now lists more than 200 resources in Routt, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties under such searchable topics as aging, food, health, mental health, substance abuse and recovery, transportation, and youth and family.

The coalition audience included some frustrated mental health providers who noted they too need help on topics ranging from provider burnout to insurance reimbursement rates. The coalition sent attendees out with a request for specific subgroup topics to tackle and a plan to meet quarterly.