Colorado’s crisis line will get a new operator, but with a two-month delay in the switchover while the Arizona-based company hires a local workforce. Since 2010, Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners has answered calls to the state’s 844-493-8255 (TALK) suicide prevention hotline and those placed to the 2-year-old national 988 Lifeline from a Colorado area code. The organization’s contract came up for renewal this year, and the state , Solari Crisis and Human Services.
Solari answers . The company also fields 988 calls for Oklahoma and acts as a backup center when other states can’t take a call. In Colorado’s request for proposals, officials said the new contract would start July 1.
Less than a week before the scheduled switchover, however, the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration confirmed that the two companies will operate the lines together until September, when Solari will take over. “This extension allows for workforce transitions — including current RMCP staff to receive training and onboarding at Solari — which were held back due to actions taken by RMCP at the end of the re-procurement process,” Behavioral Health Administration spokeswoman Stefany Busch said in a statement. Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners filed an administrative challenge to the state’s decision in May, pushing back the transition timeline.
It also could have filed an appeal by June 6, but opted not to. Solari and the state didn’t finalize a contract until Wednesday. On May 1, Rock.
