Colorado's U.S. Senate candidates participate in first-ever forum focused on mental health

For the first time in a Colorado U.S. Senate race, the Democratic and Republican candidates met for a forum focused solely on mental health. It took place this week at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. 

The issue crosses party lines and impacts virtually every Coloradan in some way, including the candidates themselves.

"At 14 years old, our daughter lost a very close friend to suicide," said Republican Joe O'Dea.

Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet said it's personal to him, too: "There isn't a family in Colorado, including mine, that hasn't been touched by this crisis," he said.

The candidates agreed the country is in the throes of a mental health epidemic brought on by a pandemic, drug addiction and worsening economy, and it has hit Colorado particularly hard.

Children's Hospital Colorado says its emergency room has seen an 88% increase in kids who've attempted suicide and there aren't enough beds or providers. It says kids are waiting 6 months on average for outpatient care and hundreds of kids are being sent out of state for inpatient care.

Bennet said cost is one of the barriers to treatment.

"What we need is parity. We need to treat mental health as seriously as physical health," he said. "That means making sure we go to where people are go to where, like their schools, like their workplaces." 

O'Dea said government alone can't solve the problem, "I went through an apprenticeship program and it helped me find my way. We need that same type of apprenticeship program available to healthcare workers, available to counselors, to therapists. Put them in a position where businesses can sponsor them so they're getting paid."  

Both candidates called for reforms to the criminal justice system.

"We need our judicial and our prison system to focus much more on recovery than they are today. People can't get treatment and it doesn't make any sense to lock somebody up and not provide any treatment while they're locked up away from society," said Bennet.

O'Dea had a different plan: "We got lots of laws on the books and we're not enforcing them and that's part of the problem. We need to put drug dealers away. Right now we've got woke DAs here in Colorado that are turning people out on cashless bond."  

The candidates also disagreed on what Congress has done to address the crisis.

Bennet touted a sweeping gun control law: "Some of best bi-partisan work I've seen since I've been in the Senate has resulted in historic money - $12 billion for mental health. He said he would have voted against that bill. That's Joe O'Dea's position on guns so we need to be straight with the people of Colorado." 

O'Dea fired back: "We've got $12 billion out of $5 trillion. My God, why aren't our priorities on mental health? Why aren't they focused on education for our kids? Why aren't they focused on those things that are important to working Americans, instead of paying criminals unemployment to be in jail? I refuse to be lectured by someone whose party hasn't enforced the laws we have on the books today."

While the debate got heated at times, Zach Zaslow with Children's Hospital Colorado is just glad the two candidates were having the debate, "As voters go to cast their ballots this election season, we want to make sure that kids, and mental health, in particular, are top of mind and that they're factoring that in when they make those choices."

Hospital spokeswoman Jessica Hawks says, while the stigma around mental health has improved, it remains a barrier to care and the forum helps.

"We are just beginning to see the initial effects of how the pandemic impacted youth mental health. I think it's also important to take a step back and realize that we were actually in a mental health crisis for our youth, even before the pandemic. We're just fortunate that we're now in a place where we have a national platform to really talk about these issues."

The debate was hosted by Children's Hospital Colorado, Healthier Colorado, Inseparable, and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. CBS News Colorado, the Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio and Mindsite News were the media sponsors for the event.