330 Crisis line employees to be laid off in June

DENVER (KDVR) — Hundreds of Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners employees are preparing to be laid off at the end of June, as Colorado plans to part ways with the local company once its contract ends.

The nonprofit said they learned in mid-April the state had decided not to grant them a new contract with Colorado’s Behavioral Health Administration, and that they were planning to go with an out-of-state vendor.

This means that, once RCMP’s current contract ends on June 30, 330 employees will be permanently laid off.

In 2011, the administration contracted RMCP to provide crisis and suicide call center services to all Colorado residents.

“We are an organization that is completely Colorado homegrown,” said Cheri Skelding, CPO of RMCP. “We live here, we recreate here. Many of us grew up here.”

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They are some of the voices you hear on the other side of the line where you call 988, the suicide and crisis hotline. While serving the entire state is a big task, RMCP has 330 employees to do the job, since the company said it is the largest employer of peer specialists and the largest provider of free peer support in the state.

RMCP also has multiple programs, along with crisis line services to include walk-in centers across the state and mobile crisis centers.

An employee at RMCP spoke with FOX31 about a program she and her colleague developed a 911 to 988 diversion program, which facilitates connection between people in crisis to the 988 hotline.

“In just a year, April to April, we have partnered with so many PSAPs, Public Safety Answering Points,” said Madyson Ganeles. “We have partnered with so many of them that we are servicing 29 percent of the Colorado population. And we have tentative plans to onboard Denver… that means that we will serve 41 percent of Colorado’s population.”

Which means almost half of the Colorado population can be seamlessly transitioned from a 911 call to a crisis hotline.

It’s this program, plus the large service area of Colorado, that employees are worried the new vendor, which they are told plans to hire 75 employees to operate, will not be able to maintain.

“Denver is about 700,000,” Ganeles said. “So, maybe 75 employees can handle 700,000. Can it handle almost six million? I personally do not believe so.”

With fewer employees, Ganeles said she is worried this might also affect wait times when people call 988.

“When you’re in crisis, you need support now,” Ganeles said.

It’s not just about employees or wait times, Ganeles also added that an out-of-state vendor might also be unfamiliar with the state as a whole.

“You can learn everything you want about the City and County of Denver, and then are you just going to kind of forget that there’s other populations that are specific and unlike the population of Denver?” Ganeles said. “The farming community specifically here, tribal communities, tourist communities, military communities. We have all of those populations here.”

For now, RMCP said they are not sure why the state has decided to go with an outside vendor.

“We know and have been reassured that there have been no performance problems as far as the expectations that we have met of the BHA, you know, sort of every step of the way,” Skelding said. “So, this really comes to, you know, as a shock to us.”

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In a statement to FOX31, a BHA spokesperson wrote:

“A Notice of Intent (NOI) to award was issued to a prospective vendor for Colorado’s 988 and Crisis Line Services. That vendor received the highest score in an objective evaluation process, which is outlined in Colorado Procurement Code Rules. However, the procurement process is ongoing as the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) analyzes and responds to a protest that was received to the award. No formal award has been made, and will not be made until any and all protests have been resolved,” the spokesperson said.

RMCP protested this on May 3, and the state has by May 17 to decide if they are going with RMCP or the out-of-state vendor.

For now, Ganeles said she cannot speak more highly about her experience working at RMCP and the dedication it gives to staff and those it serves.

“It’s an incredible staple of Colorado and it hurts me that our callers aren’t receiving what they’re receiving now and that our 330 employees are no longer going to have the support that they have,” she said.

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