{"id":94542,"date":"2019-04-18T13:28:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T19:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-area-youth-services-seek-to-collaborate\/"},"modified":"2019-04-18T13:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T19:28:17","slug":"cortez-area-youth-services-seek-to-collaborate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-area-youth-services-seek-to-collaborate\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez-area youth services seek to collaborate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Chi
Chi Patel, the new suicide prevention coordinator at the Pi\u00f1on Project, speaks on the value of prevention and intervention efforts.<\/span>Erika Alvero\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There is a wide array of services that support youths in Montezuma County, but services are not always connected.<\/p>\n

Representatives of local organizations met Tuesday to address that challenge, giving presentations on the services they provide and encouraging collaboration among the groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, here are our gaps,\u201d said Bobbi Lock, director of the Montezuma County Public Health Department. \u201cBecause there are always gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lock, the meeting came after a discussion of youth behavioral problems during a Montezuma-Cortez school board meeting.<\/p>\n

Kicking off the talks at the Montezuma County Annex, leaders from the Pi\u00f1on Project presented some of their programs and volunteer opportunities. While the nonprofit provides services for youths and families, much of its focus is on preventative work such as mentorship programs, school site support and outdoor opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to concentrate on prevention, intervention and postvention,\u201d said Chi Patel, Pi\u00f1on\u2019s new suicide prevention coordinator.<\/p>\n

Other groups at the meeting included the School Community Youth Collaborative, Communities That Care, Montezuma Inspire Coalition and Axis Health System.<\/p>\n

Representatives from the school-based Four Corners Youth Clinics of Dolores and Southwest Open School, and the Southwest School Based Health Clinic at Montezuma-Cortez High School also attended. Both highlighted their clinics\u2019 holistic, \u201cwhole child\u201d model for care, and the value of having clinics on a school site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe screen for high-risk behaviors, we screen for tobacco, alcohol, drug use,\u201d said Teresa Brown-Sanchez, a family nurse practitioner at M-CHS. \u201cWe screen for sexual activity behaviors. We screen for dental. \u2026 \u201cWe\u2019re looking at everything and trying to meet that kid where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presentations closed out with Brian Kelly of the Senate Bill 94 Youth and Families Initiative. SB 94<\/a>, which was passed in the 1990s, aims to provide alternatives to youth incarceration and has been implemented in each of Colorado\u2019s 22 judicial districts.<\/p>\n

Last fiscal year, the group served 48 kids, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019m at a loss of what to do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a lot of great programs in this area, but follow-through with those programs is not consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going back to the cooperative purpose of the event, at the meeting\u2019s conclusion, several representatives began posing ideas for collaboration \u2013 and requests for support.<\/p>\n

Some collaboration needs suggested included transportation services from Dolores, help on reentry programs from Axis, and even a possible lunch program at the high school for teens lacking social connections.<\/p>\n

Overall, attendees highlighted the benefits of being aware of the other programs and organizations in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings change, programs change, people and faces change, and knowing what is out there is a big help,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

share programs, needs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,746,60,1269,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-94542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-mental-health","tag-montezuma-county","tag-nonprofits","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94542"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=94542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}