12/01/2020
A letter from our Executive Director. Please help if you can...
Boulder County Youth Need Your HELP
I know you care about the lives of youth in Boulder County, which is why I feel the need to report to you that things are very hard out there. Teens and children are, in many cases, struggling immensely. They miss the structure and social contact and normalcy and rites of passage that come with being at school full time and some are struggling to navigate tricky family dynamics. We are seeing calls for mental health help go way up: therapy needs as well as suicidal thoughts.
We do not anticipate this burden being lifted anytime soon. In fact, as COVID cases go up, and we move into more restricted status, we expect our community's youth will be in more pain, not less. Mental health centers are filling up, therapist's schedules are full. And here's what we know: kids without insurance are getting lost in all of this. The resources for our uninsured and underinsured youth at-risk for su***de are very few. We understand that it can take up to 10 weeks to get an appointment if they go through other available channels.
That is too long for these kids to wait. Rise Against Su***de (formerly Second Wind Fund of Boulder County) exists, because we know that kids need help now. That's what we do. We are here to try and save lives – not 10 weeks from now, but NOW.
Here is how we are responding to the needs of our kids during these times:
- We are still on mission with our simple approach: find underinsured or uninsured kids who need mental health help and get them into therapy with a trained crisis treatment provider within a couple of days, at most. Your donations essentially pay for these visits, so you are directly contributing to providing a course of treatment for these kids.
- We are taking advantage of the fact that many therapists have started using telehealth, making it more straightforward in many cases for our Rise kids to have an appointment.
- In the absence of our traditional referral pipeline, which counted on kids being observed while in school by counselors and prevention specialists, we are getting creative. We know that parents are now the primary observers of their kids, while kids are learning from home. Therefore, Rise has added an in-house referral source so families and youth can now come directly to us. When we hear from a family, their child can receive an immediate risk assessment and connect with a therapist within 24-72 hours.
- We are working with many other community agencies to reach youth at risk for su***de where they are asking for help. We will continue to evolve as needed to ensure we continue to effectively serve our at-risk youth.
- Finally, we are exploring ways to educate and get the word out to youth so that they might also refer friends to us for help if they are concerned.
We need your help to make sure we can continue to offer free therapy to our uninsured or underinsured youth when they struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. Your support is crucial to our efforts to reach our at-risk youth. Our mental healthcare professionals think our children and teens will struggle even more over the holidays and into the new year. With your help, we will be there for our youth.
Here's our request: Please make the biggest donation you are able to this year to help us keep our youth in Boulder County alive and well.
Here are three ways to support Boulder County youth:
1. Log on to schedule a donation for Colorado Gives Day – or give on December 8, 2020 (please consider a recurring donation to help us do our work all year!). This may be done here: https://www.coloradogives.org/index.php?section=organizations&action=newDonation&fwID=28052
2. You can, of course, make a gift directly online at www.riseagainstsu***de.org
3. Please send a check to Rise Against Su***de - PO Box 846 Lafayette, CO 80026
Thank you in advance for your contribution. Your donation will go toward mental health therapy for uninsured or underinsured Boulder County youth struggling with suicidal thoughts. Together we can offer a needed lifeline to kids who are feeling hopeless. I appreciate your consideration.
With Gratitude,
Jenna Clinchard
Executive Director
Rise Against Su***de
P.S. Keep an eye out for our Holiday Star Program – Giving the Gift of Mental Health (https://riseagainstsu***de.org/holiday-star/). We will have trees around the community and online donation options. Whether or not you want to "adopt" a kid into therapy, please help us get this campaign viral! Your shares make a difference.
P.P.S. It costs about $800 per kid for a course of therapy at the discounted rates our therapists charge.
Please help us serve as many kids as possible this year!
