The Gunnison Consortium(Grasp) is dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and recovery of SUD across the lifespan.

In June of 2019 Gunnison County was awarded the Health Resources Service Administration (HRSA) Rural Communities Opioid Response Planning grant (RCORP) to better understand the current services and resources to prevent, treat and support people who are recovering from substance use disorder (SUD). The Consortium initially consisted of 6 key organizations; Gunnison County Juvenile Services, Gunnison County Health and Human Services, the Health Coalition of the Gunnison Valley, the Center for Mental Health, Gunnison Valley Hospital, and Western Colorado University (WCU). Over the past three years this group has grown to over 30 individuals/organizations representing diverse sectors of the community including parents, youth, and individuals with lived experience. This Consortium completed a needs and gaps analysis report that was shared across the community and used to make a 3-year strategic plan.

The Consortium, now titled Grasp, will lead and oversee the implementation efforts of the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse program. Grasp is dedicated to the prevention, treatment and recovery of SUD across the lifespan.  The activities that will be implemented include: (1-5% Budget) Strengthen Diversion program and explore alternative to ticketing for youth and adults; (2-2% Budget ) Education and prevention programs to connect law enforcement agencies with K-12 students; (3-40% Budget) Increase services for children and youth impacted by their parents’ or other family members’ substance use with Wraparound services and using the sequential intercept model embedding Clinical Social Worker in DHHS/school; (4- 28% Budget) Increase Medical Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Rural Ambulatory Medically Supervised Withdrawal Services in Gunnison and Crested Butte; (5- 2% Budget) Implement Harm Reduction strategies – expanding upon Narcan distribution; (6- 20% Budget) Support Recovery housing in the community and on Western Colorado University’s campus; (7- 3% Budget) Data collection and reporting.

Goals/Outcomes include: (1) Improve the quality and sustainability of rural behavioral health care services through supporting rural health care providers to offer coordinated, evidence-based, trauma-informed SUD and other care services that will result in a 10% reduction in open Child Protection cases. (2) Reduce drug related arrests by 2% annually for three years for people aged 35 and younger in Gunnison County and reduce recidivism at the jail by 8% over three years. (3) Address structural- and system- level barriers to improve rural residents’ access to quality, integrated SUD and other behavioral health care services as measured by a 5% reduction in mental health/SUD/OUD related visits to the ER by 2025.