Mental Health Month Encourages Screening, Early Treatment

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst read a proclamation at the Capitol on Monday declaring May as Mental Health Month.

More than one million Coloradans experience a mental health or substance abuse disorder every year, yet most go without treatment.

Brianna Johnson, 12, shared how a school program called Check Your Head helped her through a tough time.

"I got involved with Check Your Head last year when someone called me a 'mistake.' That person was my father. It's hard enough that he abandoned me, but it's even harder that he called me something that I know I'm not," Johnson said. "I wrote depressing poems, drew depressing pictures, and I even cried myself to sleep at night. I was a total wreck until my assistant principal introduced me Bianca Mikahn from Check Your Head."

Monday's proclamation encourages early treatment. Mental Health Colorado is offering a free, online screening test.