DENVER — As those with the Denver Park Rangers do their patrols through city parks and trails, they have one goal.
That typically means enforcing rules and writing tickets, but oftentimes, the situations they handle are more complicated than that. "[Rangers] come into contact with so many members of the community who are in crisis or are in need of resources. Having a mental health clinician directly out there in the field with them allows us to offer resources right where people are at and get them the help they need," said Kaiser.
"Sometimes people just want somebody to talk to. It's a lot easier to talk to the co-responder than somebody with a badge," said Beaton."It kind of shows that Denver's trying to take a step forward and lead the way in giving help in whatever way these people might need it," said Beaton.