AURORA | Aurora Police Department are joining forces with other local agencies to get the word out about Colorado’s “I Matter” program, which allows children and teenagers to access six free visits with a therapist.
The department is the first in the state to partner with the program. Joshua Nicholas, APD’s community relations manager, hopes that others will soon follow their lead.
“There’s really no reason why youth shouldn’t know about this free resource,” he said.
I Matter is the result of a 2021 law passed by state lawmakers, which was sponsored by Aurora-area state Sen. Janet Bucker and state Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet. The law created a new youth mental health services program in the Office of Behavioral Health and allows youth 18 years old and younger to receive free therapy visits.
“Many children have been impacted by COVID in ways that are going to have lasting scars if we don’t address them soon,” Jenet said at the bill signing last summer.
A second bill passed in the 2022 legislative session extended the program, which was originally set to expire this summer, through June 2024 and appropriated $6 million more to fund it.
According to the bill text, as of January over 1,300 therapy sessions had been conducted through I Matter.
Nicholas said the department decided to partner with I Matter after hearing about the need for youth mental health resources at a series of town halls and community events.
“It tears your heart out when you see an 8-year-old go up to a microphone and say ‘I need help,’” he said.
With the ongoing effects of the pandemic, gun violence and other stressors, there’s a lot that Aurora’s young people are facing.
“I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be a teen in today’s world,” Nicholas said.
The department ordered flyers, stickers and posters to promote the program in English and Spanish that it will be distributing around the city’s Parks and Rec facilities and giving to nonprofit partners to distribute. Nicholas said that anyone in the community can also reach out by contacting apdcommunity@auroragov.org and the department will send over materials free of charge by mail or can have an officer visit in person.
Along with reaching young people, the department hopes to convey to parents that their kids needing extra help isn’t a failure on their part.
“We’re trying to overcome that stigma that asking for help is a sign of weakness,” he said.
The partnership is one of APD’s efforts to support young people during the summer as the city continues to grapple with a rise in youth violence. It’s partnering with the Salvation Army to host a youth summer camp, and will be running its Global Teen Police Academy in June and July.