The relationships built by counties and the Colorado Department of Human Services administration over the last year are integral to serving Coloradans as we navigate a new, challenging landscape with COVID-19. Over the past year, we have made a dedicated effort to be out in counties to learn more about the amazing work supporting Coloradans, in addition to the on-the-ground challenges counties are facing. CDHS Executive Director Michelle Barnes attended meetings of county human services directors in each region during the summer of 2019 to listen and learn from directors across the state. As Barnes explained, “We wanted to launch this new administration by getting to know each other and building good relationships. Visiting the regions across the state was important to me because I wanted to meet directors in all the regions. This is part of our effort to ensure that we are building trust in the communities we serve."
What we heard from county human services directors
In talking with county human services directors, we learned that, now more than ever, we need to use our partnership to work on the top needs that directors across the state share. Those needs include:
Behavioral health access: We heard loud and clear that increasing access to behavioral health services to ensure a full continuum of care for people across the state is critical to all.
Child care and families: Another theme we heard is the need to address the child care “deserts” that exist across the state and invest more in the child care needs for families.
Working across silos: We also heard that we need to work across the silos at the department in order to improve our systems and achieve better outcomes.
Recovering from COVID-19: Additionally, the conversations we have had in recent weeks have focused on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
What we are doing in response to county needs
Behavioral health access: Ensuring all Coloradans are getting the mental health and substance use treatment they need is a top priority for CDHS, and we are committed to working toward a better system and investing as much time as it takes. The county representation from commissioners and human services directors on the Behavioral Health Task Force has been paramount to working through local needs. It has been particularly helpful in determining how system barriers can be removed to respond to on-the-ground realities.
Child care and families: Working with counties, child care providers and families to ensure providers can stay open and operate safely in this new landscape. Establishing a renewed focus on technical support for child care providers with increased investment in
workforce expansion and professional development support and increasing the capacity of local Early Childhood Councils to recruit child care providers and address community quality improvement needs.
Working across silos: This administration believes all of our work should serve the whole family, which requires us to look through the family’s lens instead of working within our arbitrary silos. This administration has instituted regular cross-office meetings and is bolstering the staff who work across offices to ensure our work is aligned. This work includes partnering with our sister agencies more closely to solve issues like data sharing to ensure we have combined communications when appropriate.
Recovering from COVID-19: The recovery from this unprecedented pandemic will take time and true partnership. CDHS leadership has already begun conversations with counties to increase communication and coordination so that we can make decisions together as often as possible. In addition, staff have begun assessing programs and supports that will be needed across the state to help get back to the “new normal.”
CDHS's commitment to maintaining partnerships
We are genuinely committed to partnering with counties and our other community partners early and often as we work to identify and solve problems, such as significant transitions like Family First, changes to the behavioral health system, and our shared recovery from this pandemic. We look forward to our continued virtual and in-person visits so together we can tackle the challenges that lie ahead.
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