Carbondale-based Castle Valley Children’s Clinic will now offer its clients behavioral health services thanks, in part, to a state grant. The clinic has been treating young people in the Roaring Fork Valley since 2011 for their medical needs. Medical Director Carey Levin, MD said there is a list of patients waiting to receive treatment from a therapist.
“Since COVID, kids are a mess,” Levin told The Sopris Sun. “Their families have been quite disrupted. A lot of them moved, [family members] lost jobs, there was a lot of financial stress and school was insane.” She continued with alarm, “Suicide is now the leading cause of death for teenagers, and kids are twice — if not, three-times — as depressed as they were three years ago.”
A Colorado Department of Public Health report on maternal mortality in 2023 stated that two leading causes of death for individuals who were pregnant, or within one year of giving birth, were suicide and unintentional overdose. According to the Partners for Children’s Mental Health, a center supported by Children’s Hospital Colorado and committed to improving preventative mental healthcare for youth, suicide is the second leading cause of death for middle school and high school students.
This data is part of what spurred Colorado House Bill 22-1302 Health Care Practice Transformation and its $31 million in grant funding sourced from the American Rescue Plan Act. Through the grant program, Castle Valley hired Esmeralda Osorio as a behavioral health clinician about three months ago to kickstart their behavioral healthcare offerings.
“I feel that everyone has been excited to have mental health integrated into the clinic,” said Osorio.
Osorio is a longtime Roaring Fork Valley local who previously taught students with specialized learning needs in elementary through high school classrooms. As a member of the Latino community, she brings her bilingual and bicultural identity to her new role as she joins the small but mighty team — of which, about 75% are bilingual already.
Onboarding Osorio entailed her sitting in on initial appointments with pregnant mothers and families and letting patients know about the kind of care she provides.
“The clinic is staying true to its model by trying to reach the community,” Osorio said. “What it takes [is a] bilingual, bicultural person providing” such care, and thus “reducing the stigma [inherent within] a lot of our Latin American population to access that service.”
Castle Valley primarily focuses on care for children, from birth to 21, but Levin stated that behavioral health services will extend to caregivers of its patients.
“Although we are a children’s clinic, the services are not only available to children. We take care of what we call the care system of the child,” Osorio reiterated. “We invite any caregivers or new moms … to seek out behavioral health services if needed.”
Caroline Cares has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since 2014 and began going to Castle Valley Children’s Clinic after her first son was born in March 2020. A mother of two, Cares said she and her husband love bringing their sons to Castle Valley.
“I trust what they say and they’re great about taking after-hour calls, too. They’re reassuring and always glad and happy to help,” said Cares.
Cares’ sons are 4 and 2 years old. She said, when you’re a new mom, it is a challenge to know if behavior is normal or not. By implementing behavioral health care, Cares said Castle Valley is removing a barrier by enabling families to receive that additional support at the same clinic.
“Advice and guidance, especially for a higher-needs child, is invaluable from an expert behavioral specialist,” Cares shared. She added postpartum depression can take new moms by surprise. By having someone like Osorio sit in on initial appointments, Castle Valley will be more aware of how they’re doing after giving birth.
“If parents don’t get the help they need, it’s hard to parent,” Cares concluded. “They need to take care of themselves to be able to show up for their children.”
For more on Castle Valley’s behavioral health offerings, visit www.cvcclinic.com/kids-behavioral-health-services