Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center, Inc. is an equal opportunity Provider and Employer
Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center makes a meaningful difference by delivering the highest quality mental health service to the community in the most appropriate, affordable, educational, and accessible manner.
Corporate Structure
Date of Incorporation: April 25, 1960
Tax Status: Exempt pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Charitable Status: Registered as a Charitable Organization with the State of Colorado, Secretary of State (www.sos.state.co.us) pursuant to Title 6, Article 16, C.R.S. Registration # 20023003684
Designated as an Enterprise Zone, March 2004
Governing Body: Unpaid Board of Directors
John Albright, Board Chair, Durango
Jim Knoll M.D., Vice - Chair, Pagosa Springs
M.B. McAfee, Secretary, Lewis
Deanna Devereaux , Treasurer, Durango
Jean Somsen , Durango
Balty Quintana, Ignacio
Ben Johnson, Pagosa Springs
Clint Barter, Durango
Bill Mashaw, Board Member Emeritus
Chief Executive Officer : Bernard H. Heath, Jr., Ph.D.
Partnerships, Affliations & Memberships
Partnerships
West Slope Casa, LLC On June 24, 1994, the Center entered into a limited liability partnership with Colorado West Regional Mental Health Center (CWRMHC) and Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center, (MWCMHC) forming West Slope Casa, LLC. This corporation serves as the Managed Service Organization (MSO) for State substance abuse funds through the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division (ADAD).
Colorado Health Partnerships, LLC (d.b.a. Colorado Health Networks - CHN) Effective January 2005, the State of Colorado’s, Medicaid, mental health, managed care structure was reorganized into five Behavioral Health Organizations (BHOs). SWCMHC currently partners with seven other mental health centers, covering forty-three of Colorado's sixty-four counties, accounting for 72% of Colorado's land mass and 31% of the population. SWCMHC is responsible for the Medicaid, mental health, managed care services to the five counties of southwest Colorado.Affiliations
In October 1993 the San Juan Basin Health Department, Community Connections and our Center joined together to build the Columbine Center in Durango which houses both our administration and Durango/La Plata County outpatient services. Though all three organizations are housed at the Columbine Center, each organization is separate.
Memberships
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH) NCCBH is a national organization dedicated to ensure that appropriate and affordable community-based mental health and substance abuse services are available for all individuals. Its mission is to champion opportunities that advance member's ability to deliver proactive and holistic healthcare services.
Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council (CBHC) CBHC is a private, not for profit corporation that represents all of the seventeen community mental health centers located across Colorado and the mental health managed care entities, (BHOs) from whom the State of Colorado purchases community mental health services. CBHC's mission is to promote the development and growth of relevant, high quality, comprehensive mental health services at the community level.
Colorado Association of Alcohol and Drug Services Providers (CAADSP): The mission of this association is to promote the development and growth of relevant, efficient and effective culturally diverse, high quality, comprehensive, alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention, intervention, and treatment services at the community/statewide level.
Community and professional interest in mental health had been growing in the San Juan Basin between 1950 and 1960. As a result, a steering committee for mental health services was developed early in 1959. The committee formally established Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center, Inc, a non-profit corporation, on April 25, 1960.
The total population of “the Basin” at that time was less than 80,000. The service area included the five counties currently served with the addition of San Miguel County. Services were discontinued in San Miguel County in 1970 as consumers in this county found it easier to travel to Montrose than Cortez.
On July 1, 1972, the Center was authorized to begin a federally funded Drug Abuse program. In January of 1974, the Center began to provide services one day a week in Pagosa Springs at the Mary Fisher Medical Center. On August 7, 1979, the National Institute of Mental Health approved a grant for Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center to become a Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center.
In early 1980, a full time office was established in Pagosa Springs.
In October 1993 the San Juan Basin Health Department, Community Connections and our Center joined together to build the Columbine Center in Durango that houses both our administration and Durango/La Plata County outpatient services.
July of 1995 saw the union of Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center with Colorado West Regional Mental Health Center and Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center. This created West Slope CASA, LLC. The purpose of this unique partnership was to establish a Managed Service Organization (MSO) to manage the delivery of substance abuse treatment services on the West Slope.
In 2002 the Center invested in a complete restructuring of its automated fiscal and management information system through Qualifacts, Inc. This substantial investment was necessary to maximize the use of our limited resources, to increase reporting capabilities for our Center, and most importantly to improve the quality of our services. The new MIS “went live” on March 3, 2003. The Center was instrumental in instituting a Crisis Intervention Team for Durango and La Plata County that provides training to law enforcement officers in working with the mentally ill and that will provide a mechanism to divert unnecessary cases from entering the criminal justice system. The CIT became the third Colorado CIT and the first rural CIT in the entire nation in May 2003.
In September of 2004 the Center completed a joint project with Mercy Housing Southwest to establish quality, affordable housing for persons struggling with a mental illness. In November of that year the Center expanded hours of service at all sites and initiated services a half day a week in Dove Creek at the Health Center.
In January of 2005, in response to a change in Colorado Medicaid mental health structure, Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center entered into a partnership with 7 other community mental health centers and Value Options. This partnership, Colorado Health Networks, is the largest such behavioral health organization providing mental health, managed care to Medicaid enrollees in Colorado.
In February of 2005 Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center received the United Way Outstanding Partner Agency Award. This was followed in March by receipt of the Operations Healthy Communities Non-Profit Success Award.
On December 12, 2005 construction began on the Crossroads facility scheduled to open in October of 2006. This facility will house three units: Detox Unit (moved from the Mercy Hospital North Campus), a Triage/Assessment Unit and an Acute Treatment Unit to provide a local alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.
Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center continues to work hard to become the
best possible resource for everyone in the five counties of Southwest Colorado.
The
sole purpose of our Center is to support our communities through the full and
equal participation of all our residents in the quality of life available here.
We do this by Making a Meaningful Difference in the lives of those
who seek our assistance. The value
of Making a Meaningful Difference requires that we measure the
development of our resources, the delivery of our services and the organization
of our Center against our capacity to Make a Meaningful Difference.
It
is our responsibility to constantly modify and adapt our resources to make the
greatest possible impact for consumers, family members of those with a substance
abuse problem or mental illness, and those in the community for whom mental
illness or substance abuse is limiting their capacity to fully participate in
the quality of life.
Greater
therapeutic impact happens outside of the Center and its resources than within
it. Families, job settings and intimate relationships provide the
greatest therapeutic impact and enhance the impact of our service resources.
A substantial portion of our resources should be committed to providing
this support, which should not be limited to crisis support, but should extend
to preventive and early interventive support.
ALL persons challenged with a mental illness, their families and others who
work and live with them are our responsibility. Our responsibility extends beyond enrolled consumers and
enrolled family members.
We
have an obligation to the broader community that requires us to work closely
with, and serve as a resource for, all aspects of our community including but
not limited to health, public safety, economic development, education and other
human service resources.
Engaging
all consumers and family members to the best of our ability requires a
specific commitment to cultural competency and proficiency.
This extends beyond minority language expertise to an active effort to
make all groups feel comfortable and welcomed.
Where possible we will employ staff at all levels with ethnic and
cultural backgrounds consistent with those served by our Center.
Where this is not feasible, we will make concerted efforts to train and
educate our staff so that they may represent and deliver our services in as
effective, acceptable and user-friendly manner as possible.
The
value of consumer partnership means that we approach our services with respect
for those challenged with a mental illness or substance abuse and respect for
their families. We take pride in
our resources and their professional application but we recognize that that
application must be guided and tailored in partnership with those we serve.
Change
is not our enemy, nor is it an obstacle. Change
is not something we will get past, have settle down, or need to endure. Change is our opportunity.
We
will embrace change as the opportunity to make a more meaningful difference.
We are the temporary stewards of our Center, its resources and its
capacity to serve our community. Staff
will change, demands on our system will change, technology will change (note
web
based applications decreasing center based operations), our community is
constantly changing and our understanding of best practices will change.
Only those who accept the constant nature of change and who can use it
to
advantage will thrive in our environment.
Excellence is the achievement of outcomes making the best/most creative use of resources within professional and ethical guidelines. Excellence requires a commitment to the highest professional best practice standards, highest ethical standards, and the integrity to recognize when those standards are not met.
Excellence is not a specific practice, nor a specific application of resources. Excellence is determined by the unique outcome dictated through consumer/family identification of need, desired outcome, resources and limitations combined in partnership with the application of Center resources brought creatively to bear by staff and staff teams.
Excellence
is not to be confused with perfection, which takes no risks.
Excellence requires both risk and failure to be achieved.
Annual Report
Please click on this link to view our latest Annual Report.
Prior Year Annual Reports
We are still in the process of completing a Treatment Foster Care system to serve youth with mental health concerns who need temporary out-of-home placement as. an essential component of our crisis services for children. This system is the result of a close partnership between La Plata DHS and our Center. We are in need of Treatment Foster Care Parents. For more information contact Pam Wise Romero at 259-2162 ext, 114 or pwise@swcmhc.org.
Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center is supporting a regional effort to construct a critically needed facility on the campus of the new Mercy Medical Center. This facility, called CROSSROADS, will house three programs: a psychiatric Acute Treatment Unit (ATU); a Triage Unit; and a Detox Unit. Led by State Representative Mark Larson and Bill Mashaw, the Psychiatric Resource Task Force has secured support and the endorsement of every town, city, county, law enforcement and human service entity in the five county service area. We have received construction funding from federal, Tribal, state, and regional governments, along with funds from private foundations. Mercy Medical Center donated 1 acre of land and the new Animas Surgical Hospital has pledged $70,000 in ongoing operational support. Construction began on the facility in December of 2005 and opened in October of 2006.
CHP Corporate Compliance Policy 101
CHP Corporate Compliance Policy 102