Weld Trust awards grants to support behavioral-health programs

GREELEY — The Weld Trust has awarded more than $1.25 million in behavioral health grants for 19 programs at 16 organizations in 2022. 

“Behavioral health issues can affect any person regardless of gender, age, race, geography, or income  status,” Jeff Carlson, CEO of The Weld Trust, said in a press statement. “We want to help ensure Weld County residents  can obtain the care they need for their wellbeing.” 

The Weld County Department of  Public Health and Environment in its 2022 Community Health Survey said that “roughly 29% of Weld County adults reported thinking they needed behavioral or mental health care or counseling in the past 12 months” with a higher proportion being low-income residents.

The Weld Trust’s Behavioral Health grants span several program areas, including direct intervention, prevention services and social emotional learning.  

Direct intervention grants aim to increase accessible treatment, crisis services, prevention education and referral networks for Weld County residents. Two of the grants aimed at direct intervention and suicide prevention totaled $472,555 to North Range Behavioral Health last year. North Range offers counseling centers in Fort Lupton, Carbon Valley, west Greeley, and Windsor. One of The Weld Trust grants enabled the agency to recruit and hire more mental health professionals, while a separate grant enabled the Suicide Education and Support Services program to educate Weld County residents on the warning signs of suicide.  

Prevention services grants are designed to increase the number of support groups and programs for  individuals and families. One of the grants focusing on prevention services was an $80,693 grant to the University of  Northern Colorado Foundation’s Bridging the Gap program, which connects youth and families in Weld County to free and low-cost mental health services. The program encourages UNC’s graduate trainees to remain in the community after graduation. The Weld Trust grant supported personnel and materials for the  program. 

Social emotional learning grants promote social connectedness across a person’s lifespan. The Weld Trust awarded a grant of $110,500 to Youth Empowerment Group to create a curriculum to promote social emotional learning in schools.The programs will be provided for free to Weld County schools, after school programs, youth organizations, and mentor groups. The grant from The Weld Trust supported costs associated with creating the curricula. 

Behavioral health is one of The Weld Trust’s seven Key Funding Initiatives. 

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