Jami Hayes
During the last year, YouthZone experienced a significant need for intensive mental health and substance use counseling and support for our families in our communities. Substance-related referrals doubled, and parent consultations and education significantly increased.
From 2019 through 2020, YouthZone served 1,300 youth and families through counseling, coaching, parent education and restorative justice. Twelve percent of those referrals were substance-related issues. During COVID-19, our mental health report to present referrals rose 40% for substance-related issues. Intake assessments indicated a 6% increase in the high-risk category and a significant spike in areas of depression, anxiety and substance use.
This referral trend is on the rise for YouthZone and its program partners. The American Counseling Association has designated this mental health crisis as the next pandemic, with access as the biggest barrier.
Jami Hayes, new YouthZone Executive Director
Jami Hayes, who until recently served as vice principal at Riverview School in Glenwood Springs, has been selected to become the new executive director for the area-wide youth services organization YouthZone.
Hayes will be the first YouthZone director from outside the organization since its founding in the 1970s. She will succeed longtime Executive Director Lori Mueller, who announced her retirement last fall but intends to stay on through this summer to help with the transition.
“I am honored to serve our community through YouthZone as Executive Director,“ Hayes said in a Monday press release announcing the hiring move. ”My work in the Roaring Fork School District over the last 14 years and in education for the last 20 has provided opportunity to work closely with youth and families as an advocate for equity and social justice.