Colorado Politics

Boulder County launches mental health program for wildfire victims, covers therapy costs

Boulder County Community Services has launched a Wildfire Mental Health Program in response to the CalWood and Lefthand Canyon wildfires that hit the county in October.

The program, in partnership with Community Foundation Boulder County and Jewish Family Service, will provide residents impacted by the fires with funding for mental health services and connection to mental health providers.

The CalWood and Lefthand Canyon wildfires devastated Boulder County last year, burning nearly 11,000 acres and destroying numerous homes and buildings. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate over the fires.

Officials said people directly influenced by the wildfires may be experiencing stress response symptoms like mood swings, sleep disruption and other stress reactions.

The program offers residents up to $500 toward five individual therapy sessions or up to $875 towards five family therapy sessions, also offering a pool of licensed providers to choose from.

The Wildfire Mental Health Program will serve as the foundation for future, faster responses to community-wide disaster events.

Participating residents can register for the program and select local mental health providers on the Jewish Family Service website. Only local mental health providers who have registered for the program are included on the list.

Licensed Boulder County providers with capacity for new clients can register as participating providers at jewishfamilyservice.org/voucher-provider until Feb. 28.

Mental health services are available to fire-impacted residents until April 2022, or until all funding is expended. For more information call 720-248-4686.

The Cal-Wood Fire burns north of Boulder on the evening of Oct. 17, 2020. As of 7 p.m. the fire was close to 3,000 acres in size. (Forrest Czarnecki/The Gazette)
The Denver Gazette
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