Recently, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Office of Suicide Prevention announced that the suicide rate for youth ages 10-18 has fallen to its lowest level since 2007.
In Jefferson County, Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital is supporting suicide prevention and mental health work through the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. In 2025, Intermountain Lutheran Hospital contributed $81,500 to the Center, which allows them to fund mental health clinicians placed in four K-12 schools in Jefferson County.
The Jefferson Center has run this school-based program for the past 20 years. The schools pay half the salary of the therapists/social workers in the schools, and Jefferson Center pays half. The therapists serve tier 3 interventions, meaning the highest needs students.
The therapists conduct suicide risk assessments and provide support for substance use. The program also funds a substance use provider for the school district who works closely with the school nurses and provides peer support.
The schools supported are Title-1, and they receive federal funding to help students from low-income families. Oftentimes, the parents of students don’t have the means to get their children to and from mental health appointments, so having a therapist in the schools ensures they don’t go without the help they need.
This is a phenomenal program because it ensures the clinicians put safety plans in place to help prevent suicide early. It makes it easier for families because it avoids missed school days and transportation issues. The clinicians stay on during school breaks and summers to ensure continuity of care.
Our work with the Jefferson Center school-based programs represents a commitment to moving as far upstream as possible when addressing behavioral and mental health needs in Jefferson County. By supporting mental health needs as early as elementary school, the Center is helping to prevent more complex, harder to treat issues later in life.
As a nonprofit health system, we exist to serve—and our Community Benefit work is how we live that promise beyond our hospital walls. Giving back to our community is as essential as the care we deliver at the hospital. Community Benefit investments are one of the ways we live our mission to help people live the healthiest lives possible. It’s crucial that we partner with and invest in organizations like Jefferson Center to meet the needs our communities tell us matter most, and behavioral health is consistently one of those needs.
