2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 27 - BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (§§ 27-1-101 — 27-94-107) › MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS (§§ 27-65-101 — 27-71-105) › Article 65 - CARE AND TREATMENT OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS (§§ 27-65-101 — 27-65-131) › Section 27-65-102 - Definitions

As used in this article 65, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Acute treatment unit" means a facility or a distinct part of a facility for short-term psychiatric care, which may include treatment for substance use disorders, that provides a total, twenty-four-hour, therapeutically planned and professionally staffed environment for persons who do not require inpatient hospitalization but need more intense and individual services than are available on an outpatient basis, such as crisis management and stabilization services.
(2)
"Behavioral health administration" or "BHA" means the behavioral health administration established in section
27-60-203
.
(3)
"Behavioral health crisis" means a significant disruption in a person's mental or emotional stability or functioning resulting in an urgent need for immediate assessment and treatment to prevent a serious deterioration in the person's mental or physical health.
(4)
"Behavioral health crisis response team" means a mobile team that responds to people in the community who are in a behavioral health crisis and includes at least one licensed or bachelor-degree-level behavioral health worker. A "behavioral health crisis response team" includes, but is not limited to, a co-responder model, mobile crisis response unit, or a community response team.
(5)
"Behavioral health entity" has the same meaning as set forth in section
27-50-101
.
(6)
"Certified peace officer" means any certified peace officer as described in section
16-2.5-102
.
(7)
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the behavioral health administration established in section
27-60-203
.
(8)
"Court" means any district court of the state of Colorado and the probate court in the city and county of Denver.
(9)
"Court-ordered evaluation" means an evaluation ordered by a court pursuant to section
27-65-106
.
(10)
"Danger to the person's self or others" means:
(a)
A person poses a substantial risk of physical harm to the person's self as manifested by evidence of recent threats of or attempts at suicide or serious bodily harm to the person's self; or
(b)
A person poses a substantial risk of physical harm to another person or persons, as manifested by evidence of recent homicidal or other violent behavior by the person in question, or by evidence that others are placed in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm to them, as evidenced by a recent overt act, attempt, or threat to do serious physical harm by the person in question.
(11)
"Department" means the department of human services.
(12)
"Emergency medical services facility" means a general hospital with an emergency department or a freestanding emergency department, as defined in section
25-1.5-114 (5)
. An emergency medical services facility is not required to be, but may elect to become, a facility designated or approved by the commissioner.
(13)
"Emergency medical services provider" has the same meaning as set forth in section
25-3.5-103 (8)
.
(14)
Repealed.
(15)
"Facility" means a public hospital or a licensed private hospital, behavioral health entity, institution, or residential child care facility that provides treatment for persons with mental health disorders.
(16)
"Family member" means a spouse, partner in a civil union, as defined in section
14-15-103 (5)
, parent, adult child, or adult sibling of a person with a mental health disorder.
(17)
"Gravely disabled" means a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is incapable of making informed decisions about or providing for the person's essential needs without significant supervision and assistance from other people. As a result of being incapable of making these informed decisions, a person who is gravely disabled is at risk of substantial bodily harm, dangerous worsening of any concomitant serious physical illness, significant psychiatric deterioration, or mismanagement of the person's essential needs that could result in substantial bodily harm. A person of any age may be "gravely disabled", but the term does not include a person whose decision-making capabilities are limited solely by the person's developmental disability.
(18)
"Hospitalization" means twenty-four-hour out-of-home placement for treatment in a facility for a person with a mental health disorder.
(19)
"Independent professional person" means a professional person who evaluates a minor's condition as an independent decision-maker and whose recommendations are based on the standard of what is in the best interest of the minor. The professional person may be associated with the admitting facility if the professional person is free to independently evaluate the minor's condition and need for treatment and has the authority to refuse admission to any minor who does not satisfy the statutory standards specified in section
27-65-104 (2)
.
(20)
"Intervening professional" means a person who is one of the following:
(a)
A professional person;
(b)
A physician assistant licensed pursuant to section
12-240-113
;
(c)
An advanced practice registered nurse, as defined in section
12-255-104 (1)
;
(d)
A registered professional nurse, as defined in section
12-255-104 (11)
, who has specific mental health training as identified by the BHA;
(e)
A clinical social worker licensed pursuant to part 4 of article
245
of title
12
;
(f)
A marriage and family therapist licensed pursuant to part 5 of article
245
of title
12
;
(g)
A professional counselor licensed pursuant to part 6 of article
245
of title
12
; or
(h)
An addiction counselor licensed pursuant to part 8 of article
245
of title
12
.
(21)
"Lay person" means a person identified by another person who is detained on an involuntary emergency mental health hold pursuant to section
27-65-106
, certified for short-term treatment pursuant to section
27-65-109
, or certified for long-term care and treatment pursuant to section
27-65-110
who is authorized to participate in activities related to the person's involuntary emergency mental health hold, short-term treatment, or long-term treatment, including court appearances, discharge planning, and grievances. The person may rescind the lay person's authorization at any time.
(22)
"Mental health disorder" includes one or more substantial disorders of the cognitive, volitional, or emotional processes that grossly impairs judgment or capacity to recognize reality or to control behavior. An intellectual or developmental disability is insufficient to either justify or exclude a finding of a mental health disorder pursuant to the provisions of this article 65.
(23)
"Minor" means a person under eighteen years of age; except that the term does not include a person who is fifteen years of age or older who is living separately and apart from the person's parent or legal guardian and is managing the person's own financial affairs, regardless of the person's source of income, or who is married and living separately and apart from the person's parent or legal guardian.
(24)
"Patient representative" means a person designated by a mental health facility to process patient complaints or grievances or to represent patients who are minors pursuant to section
27-65-104 (4)
.
(25)
"Petitioner" means any person who files any petition in any proceeding in the interest of any person who allegedly has a mental health disorder or is allegedly gravely disabled.
(26)
"Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state.
(27)
"Professional person" means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state, a psychologist licensed to practice in this state, or a person licensed and in good standing to practice medicine in another state or a psychologist licensed to practice and in good standing in another state who is providing medical or clinical services at a treatment facility in this state that is operated by the armed forces of the United States, the United States public health service, or the United States department of veterans affairs.
(28)
"Residential child care facility" has the same meaning as set forth in section
26-6-903 (29)
. A residential child care facility may be eligible for designation by the commissioner pursuant to this article 65.
(29)
"Respondent" means either a person alleged in a petition filed pursuant to this article 65 to have a mental health disorder or be gravely disabled or a person certified pursuant to the provisions of this article 65.
(30)
"Screening" means a review of all petitions, to consist of an interview with the petitioner and, whenever possible, the respondent; an assessment of the problem; an explanation of the petition to the respondent; and a determination of whether the respondent needs and, if so, will accept on a voluntary basis, a comprehensive evaluation, treatment, referral, and other appropriate services, either on an inpatient or an outpatient basis.
(31)
"Secure transportation provider" means a provider licensed pursuant to section
25-3.5-310
to provide public or private secure transportation services.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 222, § 235, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 222, § 114, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 451, § 56, eff. 8/10/2022.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 451, § 1, eff. 8/10/2022.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 222, § 114, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 123, § 116, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 413, § 13, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 205, § 6, eff. 5/1/2018.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 263, § 233, eff. 5/25/2017.
Amended by 2016 Ch. 210, § 79, eff. 6/6/2016.
Amended by 2013 Ch. 232, § 2, eff. 7/1/2014, except that subsection (4.5), as added in section 2 of this act, shall only take effect upon the receipt of the letter to the Revisor of Statutes required by section
27-60-102
(3), C.R.S. If such letter is not received by November 1, 2013, subsection (4.5) shall not take effect.
Amended by 2013 Ch. 42, § 1, eff. 3/15/2013.
L. 2010: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 10-175), ch. 676, p. 676, § 2, effective April 29. L. 2013: (17) amended, (HB 13 -1065), ch. 115, p. 115, § 1, effective March 15; (9) amended, (HB 13-1296), ch. 1112, p. 1112, § 2, effective 7/1/2014; (4.5) added, (HB 13-1296), ch. 1112, p. 1112, § 2, effective October 22. L. 2016: (18) amended, (SB 16-189), ch. 783, p. 783, § 79, effective June 6. L. 2017: IP, (1), (7), (8), (10), (15), and (19) amended, (11.3) and (11.5) added, and (14) repealed, (SB 17-242), ch. 1339, p. 1339, § 233, effective May 25; IP amended and (5.5) and (11.3) added, (SB 17-207), ch. 765, p. 765, § 6, effective 5/1/2018. L. 2019: (1.5) added and (7) amended, (HB 19-1237), ch. 3641, p. 3641, § 13, effective 7/1/2022.
(1) This section is similar to former § 27-10-102 as it existed prior to 2010.
(2) SB 17-242, adding subsection (11.3) was superseded by SB 17-207, adding subsection (11.3), effective May 1, 2018.
2022 Ch. 451, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017. For the legislative declaration in SB 17-207, see section 1 of chapter 205, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.