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When they launched years ago, school-based health clinics were touted as a way to reach kids who weren't being seen regularly by a doctor. Now, some Denver public schools have set up substance abuse clinics to reach students with drug and alcohol problems that might otherwise go untreated.

Denver Health therapists are staffing clinics at Bruce Randolph School and North and South high schools. Denver Health says its been flooded with referrals to its youth treatment program.

Amanda Ingram, one of the therapists, spoke with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner. Edited highlights from their conversation are below.

Do you find yourself daunted by this job sometimes?

"Oh yes. This is my first time working in a school and it's the most acute population I've ever worked with. I was not expecting to see kids in such dire need of help."

What are you seeing at Bruce Randolph in terms of addiction?

"We're seeing a high acuity of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, high anxiety. We're seeing ADHD. And what's happening is we're seeing these students don't know how to cope with this. They've never received treatment before.

"And so they're self-medicating with marijuana or other substances and what ends up happening is that they become so acute and low-functioning that they would never actually make it to a clinic to receive help. So we have come to them. By going into the schools, they're able to access therapy during the school day when they would normally never receive any services like that."

What does therapy do for these kids?

"I'm actually surprised with the scores. Every four weeks, we test everyone for depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, everything under the sun. And their scores just plummet, it's amazing. No matter if their family is involved or not, their scores go from severe to mild, just after four weeks."

What's the role of legal marijuana in addiction?