Former JeffCo DA employee George Mumma accused hotline employees of “grooming” children.
AURORA | Members of a local parent advocacy group say it is inappropriate for mental health crisis hotline workers to speak with children and offer treatment without parental consent or knowledge.
“We’re going to talk about the evidence of real harm to children across the state under the guise of mental health,” Lori Gimelshteyn, executive director of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, told participants in a meeting broadcast on social media earlier this month. .
Although she acknowledges that mental health is a problem in the country, it is one of several grievances Gimelshteyn made against the Colorado Crisis Services hotline during an online discussion she hosted on November 2.
The panel discussion was hosted on X, formerly known as Twitter, and the recording of the hour-long discussion is available online. On Friday, more than 250 people listened to the speech.
The group recently entered local politics, supporting candidates for the Cherry Creek school board and taking positions on various education-related issues, reflecting similar concerns and philosophies as Moms for Liberty and other parental rights groups. Gimelshteyn has repeatedly said that CPAN is not a political organization, but it has often collaborated with right-wing organizations such as Turning Point USA and Libs of TikTok.
CPAN’s website says it is a statewide organization, but group members, including Gimelshteyn, have focused their complaints against the Cherry Creek School District, which recently opened a large day facility to support students struggling with mental health issues.
Gimeslshteyn’s complaints against the statewide mental health crisis hotline ranged from staff qualifications to child safety. The Sentinel examined these complaints.
What is the crisis hotline?
The Colorado Crisis Services hotline is a free resource for people in need of mental health, substance abuse and emotional support. People can call or text the hotline, which is open 24/7, every day, according to the organization’s website.
The Crisis Hotline “immediately connects callers or texters who may be experiencing a behavioral crisis with trained staff who can de-escalate, screen, triage, or direct people to other community services than those that the call can provide,” declared Marc Condojani. , director of adult treatment and recovery for the Behavioral Health Administration.
“We know that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24,” Condojani said. “We certainly encourage young people to reach out to family, friends and trusted adults when they are struggling with their mental health, but sometimes young people don’t feel comfortable or safe to do it. So having the ability to call or text a trained support person is a real lifesaver.
Colorado has the sixth highest suicide rate of any state, at approximately 22 deaths per 100,000 residents each year. Teen suicide rates reflect this assessment, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and other sources.
Hotline agents who respond to texts and calls are trained in crisis management, according to their website. People who contact the hotline have the opportunity to speak with a qualified professional or peer specialist.
Stefany Busch, a spokeswoman for the state’s Behavioral Health Administration, the agency in charge of the crisis hotline, said people who work the hotlines are employees paid. However, she did not immediately respond to the Sentinel’s question about the qualifications of hotline employees Friday afternoon.
Similar organizations, like Rocky Mountain Crisis Partnerships, require employees to have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, clinical social work, or other related fields.
While suicide prevention hotlines have a long history in the United States and other countries, a 2020 National Institute of Health review of 30 studies calls for further analysis. However, he specifies that most studies demonstrate an immediate benefit from the intervention of a helpline.
Gimelshteyn expressed various concerns regarding hotline agents. One of her concerns was their weeks-long training, compared to the six years of training and education she took to become a speech-language pathologist.
Crisis specialists are trained to respond to people of all ages. Some of the topics they are trained on include: substance use, self-harm, counseling and crisis intervention.
Hotline agents are mandatory reporters and “follow the mandatory reporting policy and procedure.” However, hotline agents may not have enough information to report suspected child abuse or neglect because people who use the hotline are not required to provide identifying information.
Hotline agents are also supervised in individual and group settings in accordance with the accreditation requirements of the American Association of Suicidology.
Gimelshteyn also complained that helpline workers have an obligation to inform parents about their child’s mental health treatment. Condojani said the hotline is not considered mental health treatment, but is “a support service.”
“This is clearly not about providing treatment, nor is it a diagnosis, nor is it testing, nor is it a formal assessment, nor is it advising callers and texters,” Condojani said. He added that if additional support is needed, hotline agents will offer referrals to other services.
Pretending to be a child
During the online chat, Gimelshteyn said that she once texted the hotline while posing as a 9-year-old girl, “Hailey,” who wondered if she was transgender.
“Hailey” told the hotline worker that she did not want her parents to know about her concerns.
She said the hotline worker reassured her that the conversation would be confidential and asked if she was thinking about harming herself, to which “Hailey” replied that she was not. The hotline worker then sent her links to resources like the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention in the LGBTQ community. They also provide resources on mental health, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Gimelshteyn made a montage of screenshots of the text conversation between “Hailey” and the hotline employee and posted it to Facebook and X in late October.
Another complaint Gimelshteyn made about the hotline was that the seizure specialist asked for “Hailey’s” name, date of birth, pronoun and zip code. She said it was “highly personal information” and “children should never give out their personally identifying information without their parents’ permission.”
Condojani said people who call or text the hotline are not required to provide that information to use the service.
He added that specialists request this information “so that they can respond appropriately.” The response will be different if they know they are talking to someone 10 years old rather than someone 30 years old.
Condojani also explained that knowing “roughly where (someone) is can be helpful” in case they need to escalate the situation and contact emergency medical services.
Between June and August, the crisis hotline reportedly received more than 10,000 calls and 3,000 text messages. People who identified themselves as under 12 accounted for 1% of calls and 4% of texts. People reporting being aged 13 to 17 accounted for 4% of calls and 14% of text messages.
Busch said the data only represents those who chose to provide identifying information to hotline agents.
Child safety
One of the speakers invited to “speak” at the social media event was George Mumma. According to his LinkedIn account, Mumma worked in the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office for 22 years and was chief of the Morrison Police Department for two years.
According to Brionna Boatright, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office, “Mumma’s primary mission was to work with the Jefferson County Juvenile Assessment Center, focusing on juveniles accused of committing crimes. crimes and addressing safety issues in local schools.”
Although he was not part of the Crimes Against Children Unit during his tenure in the DA’s office, he assisted in investigations targeting adults who solicited children online for sexual purposes.
Mom accused the hotline employees of grooming the children.
He claimed that hotline workers “pose as trusted adults, the same thing that happened during (his) sex crimes investigation.” So what they’re doing is leading this child down a path without parental involvement, which is the same thing we’ve seen in the area of sex crimes. »
Condojani said that while parents need to be vigilant about what their children do online, he would feel comfortable if his children contacted the hotline.
“I certainly hope and pray that if (my children) are struggling with something, they feel comfortable and safe to bring it to me or my wife and ask for help. And if not us, a trusted adult that they know in their life, whether it’s a teacher, a coach, or someone else. But if they didn’t, for whatever reason…I would feel very safe as a parent with (the crisis hotline) if my child had to use it,” he said. he declares.
Legislative session
During the second half of the online discussion, Carolyn Martin, director of government relations for Christian Home Educators of Colorado, spoke about potential bills in the state Legislature that “undermine parents’ rights.”
Martin spoke about 12 bills, three of which she said are proposed for the 2024 legislative session, as examples of how the government is undermining parents’ rights.
Some of the measures, already passed, are: HB19-1032, which adds content requirements for public schools that provide comprehensive human sexuality education; HB19-1129, which prohibits a mental health provider from engaging in talk therapy with a minor; and SB23-296, which requires public schools to accept formal reports of harassment and discrimination and adopt procedures to investigate those reports.
Colorado lawmakers will convene in January 2024 for the next legislative session.
