Week of November 10, 2022
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An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 51
Veteran talks military service, medical experience Now at Centennial ER BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the Rogers Behavioral Health clinic on Nov. 3.
PHOTOS BY TAYLER SHAW
Rogers Behavioral Health opens in Arapahoe County Treatment for OCD, anxiety, depression BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Colorado residents looking for mental health treatments focused on anxiety, depression and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have a new option — Rogers Behavioral Health. The national not-for-profit mental health treatment provider launched its first Colorado location in Arapahoe County, opening a clinic located at 10333 East Dry Creek Road. “We are just so excited to bring Rogers to Denver and to meet
the growing need for specialized, evidence-based treatment,” said Clinical Director Julia Carbonella during the clinic’s open house on Nov. 3. According to the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration, an estimated three in 10 Coloradans, or 1.5 million people, are in need of mental health or substance use disorder care. The new Rogers clinic offers what’s called “partial hospitalization,” meaning clients spend about six hours a day, five days a week at the clinic working on their treatment program, said Blair Famarin, an outreach manager at Rogers Behavioral Health. “It’s a full day, almost like a workday or a school day,” Famarin said.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 | SPORTS: PAGE 28
When Alex Sutherland was growing up in Philadelphia, he only had movies and the media to shape his perception of the military — that is, until he joined the U.S. Army as part of his journey to become a doctor. Now a Centennial resident and emergency room physician at Centennial Hospital, Veterans Day, observed on Nov. 11, holds a special meaning. “For me, it’s a reminder and a time to reach out to friends,” Sutherland said. “I don’t think I realized what, really, what people went through in the military until getting into it, and then what — how important it actually is.”
Within the partial hospitalization model, the clinic offers four programs — a depression recovery program for adults or for adolescents, and an OCD and anxiety program for adults or for children and adolescents. The clinic provides different types of therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, which Mayo Clinic defines as a type of psychotherapy to help clients become aware of negative thinking so they can view challenging situations more clearly and respond effectively. To address OCD and anxiety conditions, the clinic offers exposure and response prevention, a
Combining medicine and the military Sutherland started out wanting to do sports medicine, specifically working as a physical therapist, because he was an athlete and thought it would be a good option. However, during his undergraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh, he did some rotations in physical therapy and discovered he didn’t enjoy it as much as he thought he would. “So, I just decided to go into medicine, because I love science, I like working with people, and that was that,” he said. Due to how expensive medical school is, Sutherland went through a program called the Health Professions Scholarship Program, which he said is like ROTC for medical
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