Boulder nonprofit needs help saving Colorado kids' lives
Giving trees are ubiquitous this time of year, but while most are aimed at ensuring kids have toys for the holidays, a Colorado nonprofit has set up trees that promise the gift of mental health.
"Every dollar donated goes directly to paying for care for kids," said Bill Heaston, Program Director for Rise Against Suicide, an organization unlike any other in the state. It connects kids in the Boulder area who are 12-19 years old and are suicidal with free therapy.
"We see mental health as a basic need, a basic right," says Heaston, one of only four full-time employees at the organization that operates out of donated office space in Boulder.
"One of our main tenants is meeting people where they're at," he says, including school.
The nonprofit doesn't take walk-ins. Instead, it receives referrals from the Boulder Valley School District and the St. Vrain Valley School District. Rise Against Suicide connects the kids with a licensed therapist who travels to their school for up to 10 counseling sessions.
Heaston says the therapists provide care at a reduced rate paid by the nonprofit, "So, you're getting high quality care at no cost."
And with no wait. He says kids receive therapy within 24 to 72 hours.
"Timeliness is everything, and we do live within a system that is overloaded and overworked and so that is why Rise Against Suicide is so important. We have to rise against what our community and what our state is dealing with and it's dealing with a youth crisis in mental health and kids who don't know where to turn and who are really hurting inside."
They are kids who he says need to know that they are not alone and that there is help. He says the testimonials on the nonprofit's website and the names of kids on its giving trees attest to the program's success.
"For me it is a mirror into what is possible and you're not only giving the gift of mental health but you're also giving the gift of hope and healing and moving forward," Heaston said.
Heaston says Rise Against Suicide works with a network of 40 therapists and has paid for mental health care for more than 1,500 kids since it was founded in 2009 and nearly 400 kids last year alone.
If you'd like to help, you can donate at riseagainstsuicide.org/holiday-star-program.
