Disordered Eating Prevention

Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee. The bill establishes the office of disordered eating prevention (office) disordered eating prevention program (program) in the department of public health and environment (department) within the prevention services division (division) .

The office and the department are division is required to:

• Create and maintain a resource bank for research, intervention methods, treatment resources, information on crisis services, awareness programs, and educational resources regarding disordered eating prevention and care in Colorado an external-facing resource that is updated annually and includes key information about disordered eating, including risk factors and prevention factors ;
• Collaborate with the office of suicide prevention the behavioral health administration, and organizations within the health-care industry to close gaps in care and provide support to individuals with disordered eating who transition out of inpatient care, and other programs within the division to align work focused on disordered eating, facilitate public outreach, and increase awareness regarding disordered eating prevention and care with a focus on impacted communities, such as youth, older Coloradans, people of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals;
• Create outreach resources directing youth on how to seek care for disordered eating and how to report concerns for other youth, with a focus on impacted communities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and youth of color;
• Partner with the department of education to inform teachers, administrators, school staff, students, and parents on disordered eating preventions and treatment for youth; and
• Collaborate with advocacy groups, including faith-based organizations, to support a shift in public perception regarding health-care systems and disordered eating treatment and prevention;
• Coordinate the disordered eating prevention research grant program. and
• Prepare written information for primary care offices and providers throughout the state. The information must be culturally specific concerning how to recognize and respond to a patient with disordered eating and include separate written information for providers and information that may be shared with an adult patient or a youth patient and the caregivers of the youth patient.

The bill creates the disordered eating prevention commission (commission) in the department. The commission will have 17 members with professional or personal connections to disordered eating prevention. The purpose of the commission is to:

• Provide public and private leadership on disordered eating prevention in Colorado;
• Set statewide, data-driven, evidence-based, and clinically informed priorities for disordered eating prevention in Colorado;
• Serve as the advisor to the office of disordered eating prevention;
• Establish and lead subgroups to set strategy and implementation plans for the office;
• Provide a forum for government agencies, community members, and lawmakers to examine the current status of disordered eating prevention policies;
• Provide a voice for youth and focus on youth issues;
• Provide a forum for diverse perspectives to support and inform diverse communities; and
• Provide a forum for perspectives from rural communities to support and inform rural communities.

The bill creates the disordered eating prevention research grant program (grant program) in the department division . The purpose of the grant program is to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants to conduct research on risk factors for root causes of disordered eating the impact disordered eating has on Colorado, or public health interventions that examine and address the root causes of disordered eating and to examine the risk factors and protective factors for disordered eating in youth, adults, and older Coloradans .The bill appropriates $26,679 to the department from the general fund for use by the division to implement the bill.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)