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Times-Call guest opinions | opinion@times-call.com |: Kristina ShawGreat mental-health work is being done in Longmont

Daily Times-Call - 12/15/2019

Dec. 15--By Kristina Shaw

Mental Health Partners (MHP) appreciates the city of Longmont's recent event "It takes a community!," which featured Dr .Bruce Perry, psychiatrist and senior fellow of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas, as its guest speaker. Dr. Perry's remarks focused on the importance of integrating trauma-specific treatment in mental health care, building healthy communities and addressing relational poverty. Too often, these issues are left out of conversations about mental health and addiction recovery, and we want to thank the city of Longmont for providing a forum to explore them.

Dr. Perry provided important information and education on these topics. However, we felt it was also important to highlight the great work already being done in Longmont (and all of Boulder County) to integrate trauma-informed treatment in mental health care. Leading the way in this effort are two Mental Health Partners programs:

Moving Beyond Trauma: Healing Mind, Body and Spirit (MBT)

Recognized as a Category III National Child Traumatic Stress Network member, its therapists have significant training in trauma-informed care and are led by Dr. Janine D'Anniballe, a nationally recognized expert in trauma-informed care. MBT's holistic model of care includes traditional talk therapy, as well as trauma-informed yoga, acupuncture, massage and animal-assisted therapy featuring Fievel, MBT's facility dog.

Our statistics show when an individual receives care through Moving Beyond Trauma, their resiliency increases while their PTSD, dissociation and somatization symptoms decrease. This is especially true for children, who saw a significant improvement in trauma symptoms after receiving care, including a decrease in re-experiencing, avoidance and negative mood.

Community Infant Program (CIP)

Since 1984, this specialized team of infant mental health therapists and public health nurses have worked collaboratively with families to intervene in cycles of trauma and poverty through prevention and intervention practices. They serve over 250 families and 500 individuals annually and follow a multigenerational, bilingual and bicultural model.

Our data shows that 95% of parents served through CIP experience an improvement in social supports, decreased family conflict and feel more emotionally available to their infant/young child.

Mental Health Partners would like to extend an invitation to Dr. Perry, and to all members of our community, to learn more about these programs by visiting www.mhpcolorado.org. Also, we are offering tours of MBT's newly remodeled offices in Lafayette and hosting a free, trauma-informed care lecture led by Dr. D'Anniballe on Feb. 5, 2020, along with many other opportunities to receive trauma-informed care through yoga, massage and acupuncture. Register and learn about these opportunities by visiting www.movingbeyondtrauma.org or calling 303-443-8500.

We acknowledge there is still more to work to do until trauma-informed practices are fully integrated in mental health care across Colorado, and the nation. But as the leading mental health and addiction recovery center in Boulder and Broomfield County for over 55 years, Mental Health Partners continues to remain committed toward accomplishing this goal as a way to fulfill our mission to build healthy minds, healthy lives and healthy communities.

A marketing and communications professional for the past 15-years, Kristina Shaw has spent the past 10 years specializing in nonprofit healthcare marketing and communications. She currently serves as public information officer and marketing director for Mental Health Partners.

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