STORY

New hotline offers support for everyday stress or mental illness

Real Help Hotline enables quick access to services for all CU employees
By Staff
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New hotline helps offer support for everyday stress or mental illness

The University of Colorado is offering all employees a new option for quick access to mental health services – The Real Help Hotline at 833-533-CHAT (2428).

Life is full of stressful events. Pivotal moments like buying a home, having a child or going through a divorce are obvious sources of stress. But day-to-day obligations as seemingly simple as paying the bills can become overwhelming, too. Beyond the typical struggles we all face, depression, anxiety, addiction and other, more serious, health problems are prevalent in modern society

These are all matters of mental wellness.

Often, support and treatment can be hard to find. According to The Denver Post, “the wait to see a psychiatrist in (Denver) is about five months long. Colorado has only 15 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, compared with 92 primary-care physicians.”

This deficit led Gov. Hickenlooper to take action in 2014 when he launched Colorado’s first statewide mental health crisis line.

“While public officials and hospital systems continue to search for solutions, we believe it’s important to implement a plan of our own so that support is immediately available to all faculty and staff,” said Felicity O’Herron, chief human resources officer and associate vice president of Employee Services.

That’s why CU Employee Services collaborated with the CU Health Plan Administration, CU Medicine and UCHealth to launch the Real Help Hotline.

The Real Help Hot Line makes it easy to access professional counselors who can provide immediate crisis counseling or offer assistance finding local resources to anyone facing a problem they can’t seem to solve. The service is free and confidential, available 24 hours a day and open to all employees.

The number to call is 833-533-CHAT (2428).

For additional information, download posters and flyers or email questions@becolorado.org.