Community Initiated Care

Community Initiated Care is the idea that anyone in our community can have a significant impact on behavioral health outcomes. Through training, each of us can feel empowered to recognize behavioral health issues in a friend, a neighbor, or a family member and take helpful action in the moment.

What is the goal of Community Initiated Care?

The goal of Community Initiated Care is to create a community of people who know how to prevent and respond to mental health and substance use concerns in a timely and effective way. To accomplish this, a package of training options led by expert community trainers is available to Broomfield organizations and individuals. These trainings will help you recognize behavioral health issues, engage and respond appropriately to someone in need, provide community resources, and destigmatize behavioral health issues. 

What trainings are offered?

There are training options in the following topic areas: mental health, youth mental health, wellness, and substance use. Trainings range from one to eight hours, and can be done virtually or in-person. Organizations, such as non-profits, businesses, religious groups, and workplaces are encouraged to sign up for group training. Some individual training is offered.

  • Mental Health First Aid (MHFA): MHFA teaches participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders.
  • Mental Health and Wellness:  This training provides a framework for understanding impacts on mental health, including collective traumas, burnout, and common mental illness signs and symptoms. Participants will learn strategies for self-care and building resilience, as well as support resources in the community.
  • Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR): Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.
  • Substance Use Training: These training options will cover topics like overdose prevention, naloxone/narcan,  what opioids are, and harm reduction education.
  • Youth Mental Health: This training discusses mental health and youth, specifically, normalizing conversations about mental health, mental health struggles youth might experience, social pressures such as social media, and self care tips and available resources.

How do I sign up?

Broomfield Public Health and Environment is gathering interest for the remainder of 2022, with plans to start delivering trainings in 2023. Interested? Complete this form!

Need something sooner? Check out these opportunities from partners!


Mental Health Partners

Mental Health Partners offers multiple trainings every month for community members, including:

  • Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR): Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.
  • SafeTalk: A half-day training program that teaches participants to recognize and engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide and to connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention.
  • Mental Health First Aid (MHFA): MHFA teaches participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders.
  • Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST):  ASIST is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid. Participants learn to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. 

Partners for Children's Mental Health (PCMH) is hosting free Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) trainings in February for anyone 18+ interested in learning about suicide warning signs, prevention strategies, and how to support youth having thoughts of suicide.  Training dates/times (MT):

PCMH is offering a five-part virtual series in February on utilizing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills with youth in school settings. The course covers skills around mindfulness, managing emotions, tolerating distress, and building relationships.

Boulder Parent Engagement Network, Natural Highs, and Boulder County Community Services Substance Use Advisory Group spread the word on a very important free community event: The Facts and Myths of Fentanyl and How Opioids Affect the Brain. January 19th, 6:30-8 pm, Monarch High School. See flyer for registration information.