During Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, the board unanimously voted to apply for a multiuse grant that could fund additional behavioral health services for the Sheriff’s Office, while also renewing a preexisting contract that provides behavioral health services to the county jail.
The new grant requests $30,000 from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, tapping into a program with $1.8 million available for fiscal year 2025-20256, according to the grant’s online listing.
The listing describes the reimbursement-based grant for law enforcement and other types of social services as intended for “the purposes of co-responder community responses and community-based alternative responses.”
Possible uses of the grant could be for to provide counseling services to peace officers and their family members, or to offer education on job-related trauma.
Additionally, the board voted to approve the renewal of an ongoing grant, based in an agreement between Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center via the Axis Health System, to form the basis of the Jail Based Behavioral Health Services program for the Sheriff’s Office.
