While the next legislative session is still three months away, Colorado lawmakers are already working on legislation to help people living with severe mental illness.
The Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems Interim Committee advanced a slate of bills this week aimed at helping people with mental illness stay out of the criminal justice system, and to ensure those who do end up behind bars get the treatment they need.
Helping a loved one with a mental illness isn’t easy, especially when they find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
“The people who have loved ones with serious mental illness are ashamed and embarrassed, and they’re also broken by the experience of not being able to get care for their person,” said State Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder.
It’s something Amabile knows all too well.
“I have a child who has serious mental illness, schizoaffective schizophrenia with bipolar, who has substance use disorder, who’s been homeless, who’s been criminal justice involved,” said Amabile.