DENVER — Denver and Colorado face a shortage of therapists, prompting state leaders and nonprofits to take action.
"We've got to figure that out as a behavioral health system, and that's difficult, because we need a lot more therapists than we have right now," said Dannette R. Smith, commissioner of the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration.
Some in the Denver area and across the state are trying to fix the shortage. Smith said there's also a need for more programs targeted to certain populations right now.
"I can talk about services to children and youth. We want to make sure that those are readily available. We want to use more of a prevention strategy as much as we can, than an intervention strategy where we have to hospitalize children," said Smith.
Even with the shortage, groups like the Caring For Denver Foundation have invested in over 300 organizations that aim to improve mental health.
"Caring for Denver was created in 2018 by and for Denver to dedicate sales tax revenue to mental health and substance misuse," said Lorez Meinhold, executive director of Caring for Denver Foundation.
Part of that dedication is reaching out to people of different backgrounds.
"It can look like lots of different things, it might mean, how do we better support the workforce? How do we create more access points to care? How do we better support and reduce stigma for communities so that care is more accessible?" said Meinhold.
While Caring For Denver focuses on serving the community through therapy, the state is also working on other key groups, and a program is expected to launch in July 2025.
"Colorado Lift is all about making access to services throughout the four regions of the state accessible to people who need behavioral health. We are fortunate to have two very good providers who are going to be working along with us," said Meinhold.
The Caring For Denver Foundation wants to hear from the Denver community about how to improve mental health. If you would like to help them out, follow this link.
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