Denver mental health program contributes to significant decrease in overdoses, jail bookings
(Left to right) Samuel Murray and Matthew Hudgins
CBS
The program helped nearly twice as many people in the first year as it had anticipated. In year two, the program has expanded to have an even greater impact on communities that battle with addiction, homelessness or dealing with the justice system.
"It's nice to be able to smile," said Matthew Hudgins, who is six months sober. He's off the streets after experiencing homelessness off and on since 2017. The smile he now has is an indicator of the life-changing progress he's made.
"It is amazing, and it feels good," Hudgins said. "I mean, I was unemployable six months ago. There was no way I could have worked. Right? It just wasn't possible. And today, I do have that opportunity."
The opportunity was made possible with the help of the THRIVE program and the efforts to help by peer support specialist Samuel Murray, who's been with the program since its inception.
"We have amazing doctors, amazing social workers, amazing nurses, amazing just faculty in general, but they're specialized in their profession," Murray explained. "I like to say I'm specialized in mine with the lived experience of substance use and those being within the community itself. So, once a lot of the patients have the plan, we're there to support the choice of the plan."
Hudgins and Murray originally connected over free coffee and doughnuts.
"To be honest with you, there were days where that was all I ate, or that was all I was going to eat for that day," Hudgins said. "So it was motivation for me to come down here."
Eventually, when Hudgins decided to get help, Murray was there.
"I knew that he had overcome addiction, and he looked happy," Hudgins said. "He looked healthy. He was involved with his family, and he was working, and those things looked good to me coming from the streets. So I asked him how he did it, and he just told me that when I was ready that we would get there."
THRIVE is taxpayer-funded through nonprofit Caring for Denver. Denver Health says it has seen a significant decrease in emergency department visits, overdoses and jail bookings all as a result of implementing this program. THRIVE has also helped decrease outpatient waitlists for mental health care by more than 90%.
Homelessness has been on the rise in Denver with thousands experiencing it every year. Hudgins believes the work THRIVE is doing is exactly what the city needs.
"If you really want to do something about the homelessness and the drug addiction problem in Denver, it has to be a grassroots effort from the streets," Hudgins said. "And people on the streets, we know that there's resources out there, but we don't know how to access them. That's why Sam and the THRIVE team were so important, because they were available."
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