Proposed adolescent mental health facility in the county
According to myriad reports, teen mental health is in crisis. My personal research has shown that there’s a shortage of youth mental health providers in the area. Therapists have long waitlists, and many don’t take insurance, putting therapy beyond the realm of many families whose kids may be struggling. Sandstone Care, the company that has applied for a special use permit to transform the Alps Inn into an inpatient treatment center for teens, accepts most insurance, though not Medicaid or Medicare, according to the company’s website (sandstonecare.com/admissions). Sandstone Care already operates a rehab center and a therapy center in Broomfield, so transforming the Alps Inn would not be the company’s first foray into the Boulder area.
Is this a good use of the Alps Inn? For the families whose teens may receive life-transforming care, yes. For the therapists, administrators, cooks and other employees who will have stable employment, yes.
Still, the concerns from neighbors that runaway teens could trespass — or worse — are valid. Before approving this use of the facility, Boulder County must ensure that Sandstone Care has adequate insurance and also contingency and communication plans in place so that when the worst happens, there is a clear and immediate notification and response system in place. My cursory research suggests that Sandstone Care is a sprawling, for-profit business, which can portend both good and bad for the operation. On one hand, the company has the resources to ensure compliance, adequate staffing, and security. On the other hand, large corporations aren’t always known for taking local concerns all that seriously. I understand why neighbors of the Alps Inn are apprehensive; I would be, too.
But if not a mental health treatment center, then what will the Alps Inn be in its next iteration? Already, the owners are on record saying it’s not viable as a bed and breakfast. According to Zillow, it was first listed for sale in 2014 (asking price: $6.2 million). More listings followed: 2015 (asking price: $5.75 million), 2017 (asking price: $5.395 million), 2017 again (asking price: $4.995 million), 2019 (asking price: $4.469 million), 2022 (asking price: $4.469 million), and it is currently under contract/accepting backup offers. Sandstone Care — or whichever entity is under contract on the property — clearly sees a profitable business opportunity in creating a mental health facility at this beautiful property. Now, it’s up to the county commissioners to ensure that said business is also a good neighbor.
Rachel Walker, rodellwalker@gmail.com
About 30 miles east of New York City is one of the most beautiful and scientifically iconic places in the world, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I was lucky enough to do a couple of summer courses there in fruit fly neurobiology (yes, that is a real thing), and learn from some of the world’s premier geneticists.
But that beauty covers up a horrific past reality: the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is also the site of the infamous Eugenics Record Office (ERO), which sought to use science and policy to “purify” the human race from racial, social and mental insufficiencies in the early-mid twentieth century. The German demonstration of where those beliefs lead mercifully ended the ERO in this country. But some of its ideas persist in insidious ways, especially in defining the “other” as somehow not desirable.
Eugenics tried to remove otherness by changing it to be better i.e., “more like us,”, even to the point of sterilizing other humans (or killing them, in the German model) who did not fit the desired model. The world generally condemns these things now, though sometimes I hear things on certain cable news channels that skirt the edge of old-fashioned eugenics at its most heinous.
Another way to try to overcome otherness discomfort is through physical removal of the feared other (“out of sight, out of mind”). This is the animating intent behind social NIMBYISM, and generally elicits less strong reactions. But it is almost as destructive in its own right, both to its proponents and to its targets.
It would be easy to take a cheap shot at Boulder’s NIMBYISM and cite this current controversy in the canyon as just another example. It would also be wrong. There is a more fundamental challenge we must address somehow, one that goes far beyond Boulder but is more painfully felt here. It feels like we are missing some critical element of kindness and empathy, a sense of gratitude for what we have here and generosity of spirit in wanting to share it with others. More than that, even: We are lacking some basic awareness of the importance of variation in building a strong and authentic community. And that variation must include the whole range of authentic human experience, not just some predetermined set of positive attributes.
Maybe we should simply start by being honest about what we support or don’t support and — far more important — why.
Fintan Steele, fsteele1@me.com
The facility proposed to be built at the old Alps Boulder Inn by Sandstone Care would treat adolescents with mild to moderate mental health symptoms. And there is absolutely no question in my mind that Boulder County needs access to a facility like this. I personally know parents whose child struggled with mental health symptoms due to intense personal trauma. The kid resorted to buying Xanax on the street, which unbeknownst to him, was laced with Fentanyl. The teenager was found dead, lying in bed listening to music. I wonder now if this facility would have given him the tools to cope with his trauma and prevent his death.
At the same time, let’s not forget that this company is not opening this facility out of the kindness of their hearts, but to seek profit. I think it’s perfectly justified for the county to request certain guarantees (for the county or the neighbors) in order to grant a permit. For example, at the county hearing, a neighbor mentioned that at the mental facility where his wife works, “clients running away, absconding, is pretty much a daily occurrence”. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that in order to cut costs and increase profits, the facility may be understaffed, and the active staff may not be able to handle runaways. After all, a teenager cannot be held against their will in the facility, if they wish to leave.
I think the county needs to keep communication open between them, the neighbors and Sandstone Care. Everyone in the group has leverage: The company wants to build a facility to increase their profits, the county wants the facility and needs to provide the permits, and the neighbors have sway via their vote and organizing. I think this balance of power is good to ensure a solution that will benefit all parties. I hope the neighbors and the county are able to outline their requirements regarding public safety clearly and that the facility is able to calm those worries. Furthermore, I hope a review process is established such that if the facility is in violation of the initial agreement, the neighbors and the county are able to bring those issues to them in a quick manner so they can be addressed efficiently. I personally look forward to having a facility like this available to our kids in the City of Boulder.
Hernán Villanueva, chvillanuevap@gmail.com