DENVER — A healthcare provider is breaking down barriers in Denver.
Guidelight Health is launching a Spanish intensive outpatient program (IOP), which they claim will enhance the accessibility and equity of mental health care for their patients. Staff say it is the "first of its kind" in the Front Range.
Rosa Najera, LCSW, behavioral health director at Tepeyac Community Health Center, said it’s essential to have a program like this, stating, “Denver is diverse in nature, and so I think that everyone deserves to have accessible, inclusive services.”
Tepeyac Community Health Center offers short-term health services to the community.
“We're often having to refer people after they've completed therapy with us to somewhere else,” Najera said. “We're their first interaction with behavioral health services."
She said the center predominantly serves Spanish-speaking patients, but noted there are some gaps in services. She emphasized that Spanish-speaking programs for patients are limited in availability.
“Right now, there isn't any other in-person, Spanish-speaking IOP program. And so right now, our options as they stand are either virtual or nothing,” she explained.
Though soon, Guidelight Health’s new Spanish IOP will help fill that gap.
“We're really trying to connect some of the dots here in the Front Range,” said Dustin Hacker, LSW, a Spanish IOP therapist with Guidelight Health.
“Our Spanish IOP program is going to be the first Spanish language IOP program of any kind in the Denver Metro area and in the Front Range,” Hacker added.
The six week program will include group led sessions in Spanish and will also provide resources, like handouts, in Spanish.
"We're a group therapy practice, so leading all of the groups in Spanish, all of the content that we have, and any worksheets that we use, are going to be in Spanish. And then they'll meet for a weekly individual session as well," said Hacker.
Hacker said these features will “ensure that they feel that they can fully express and kind of unpack whatever they're working through in their lives.”
The program breaks down barriers and expands access to mental healthcare.
“Mental health care, generally, is provided in English, but one in five residents of the Denver Metro area are Spanish speaking, and so we want to expand access to those communities, knowing that it may feel a little out of their reach,” explained Hacker.
Guidelight Health started taking referrals for this program on September 15. They expect to begin the program in October.
As for what the future holds, they hope to expand this model to some of their other locations in the Front Range and, ultimately, to their locations around the country.
