CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020 - 20

CLASS NOTES

Continued - Mental Health First Aid

"There are things I'm learning in here that
I would have never thought to ask. Like we
talked a lot about suicide prevention, which
is a big thing. More and more people I know
have struggled with suicidal thoughts. I
would have had no idea, until today, how to
deal with that."

Psychiatric
Mental
Health Nurse
Practitioner
Sarah Stalder.

With most mental illnesses striking before
age 25 and commonly in the early 20s, college students are in a high-risk group, with an
estimated third of them suffering from some
form of mental illness.

EFFORT 'FORWARD-THINKING,' IN
LINE WITH UNIVERSITY AIM
Becker said she is glad to see CU Nursing
leading the way in innovatively increasing
mental health knowledge among students.

CU NURSING-LED PILOT PROJECT

"I think this is very forward-thinking in terms
of getting classes trained as a whole versus
just offering it individually," Becker said. "It
is a great step."

IN LOCAL CLINICS

B O O S T I N G M E N TA L H E A LT H C A R E

By Debra Melani

atients with substance-use or other
mental health disorders at CU
Nursing's Sheridan Health Services
clinics are bucking a national trend:
They're getting professional help.

While mental health issues strike one out of five U.S. adults each
year, only half of those who seek treatment ever follow through
on psychiatric referrals.

The training requirement falls in line with
campus- and university-wide initiatives to provide more education to students around mental
health recognition and response, Spencer said.
Last fall, CU Nursing began a major revamp
of its nurse practitioner curriculum, weaving
behavioral health care throughout the program.
"We were fortunate to find a community partner
in Centura Health, who also strongly supported
providing this education to nursing students,"
Spencer said. "We hope to continue this partnership and bring MHFA training to all of our
students when they enter the program."

CU College of Nursing | Spring/Summer 2020

"The rest are being seen by primary care providers (PCP)," said
Sarah Stalder, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with
the University of Colorado College of Nursing.
"Not only do some of those patients need more expert care, but
that's a huge burden on those providers, who often have limited
time with patients," Stalder said.
She and her team, led by CU Nursing Professor Amy Barton, PhD,
are conducting a pilot project at the Sheridan adult and youth
clinics focused on using a collaborative care model to help reverse
this sometimes-deadly trend.

PROJECT TARGETS NEW MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS SOLUTIONS
"Colorado is ranked ninth among states for age-adjusted deaths
due to intentional self-harm," Barton said, referring to one

CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020

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