Metro Crisis Services has received a grant of $300,000 over three years from the University of Colorado Hospital.

The hospital's grant will support the launch and expansion of a new mental health and substance abuse crisis services system for the seven counties of metro Denver.

Metro Crisis Services, a new nonprofit organization, is the result of a multiyear collaborative community planning effort that was jointly sponsored by several foundations and the metro-area hospital systems.

In the present economic crisis, community-based mental health and substance abuse services in the Denver area are being reduced because of public funding shortages.

Lacking access to treatment resources, people with mental health or substance abuse problems often are brought to emergency rooms or county jails.

Metro Crisis Services will provide alternatives for police and families, intervening before crises escalate to violence.

Metro Crisis Services will improve access to mental health and substance abuse services in the seven-county metro area by creating a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year, community-based crisis intervention system.

When fully implemented, the crisis system will include:

• Crisis Line, staffed 24/7 by licensed mental health professionals
• Web-based resource-matching and referral program
• Walk-in clinics for 24/7 assessment and immediate treatment
• Residential/inpatient rapid stabilization services.

The University of Colorado Hospital's grant will help support the Crisis Line, which also is supported by a justice assistance grant from the Colorado Department of Public Safety, a grant from the city of Golden and three local foundations.