About Us
Mental Health Colorado is the state’s leading nonpartisan, nonprofit voice for mental health advocacy. We provide trusted insight and information on policies and practices that affect health and well-being for all Coloradans.
Our Mission
We are Mental Health Colorado. Since 1953, we have been the state’s leading non-profit, non-partisan voice advocating to support Coloradans mental health needs and to reduce harm from substance use.
Our Vision
We envision a Colorado where everyone, at every stage of life, has the opportunity to thrive—supported by strong beginnings, nurturing families, safe housing, essential services, and environments that promote well-being.
We strive for a future where:
- Health needs are met with care.
- Substance use is addressed with evidence-based care.
- Mental health is understood, respected, and free from discrimination.
Our Values
Nonpartisan & Nonprofit
As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, we advocate for policies and practices that improve mental health—without endorsing political parties or candidates. We inform and engage the public, the media, local leaders, and policymakers through education and issue-focused advocacy.
Person-Centered
Community Listening
Collaboration
Our Programs
Brain Wave
In Colorado, your story has the power to change laws, end discrimination, and build a healthier future for all. You don’t have to be an expert to be an advocate. You just have to be ready to make a difference.
Course Corrections
Community Speaking
Internship Program
Healthier Minds Across the Lifespan
Founded in 1953 as the Colorado Association for Mental Health, our legacy is built on a relentless drive to transform how our state supports mental well-being. As a proud state affiliate of Mental Health America, we are part of a national movement dedicated to promoting mental health and preventing mental illness through advocacy, education, research, and service.
Our work is guided by a singular, powerful purpose: to create a Colorado where mental health is understood, valued, and treated with the same urgency as physical health. We engage policymakers, providers, the public, and the press to promote mental well-being, ensure equitable access to care, and end health-based discrimination in all its forms. Our efforts are comprehensive, extending from the halls of the State Capitol to the heart of our communities, workplaces, and classrooms.
It is crucial to understand our unique role in Colorado’s complex mental health landscape. We are not a clinic or a crisis line. We are architects of change. While many vital organizations provide direct services to individuals in need, our mission is to address the root causes of the crisis by transforming the very systems that affect the well-being of millions. We achieve this by passing laws, changing practices, and building a statewide movement to ensure every Coloradan has the opportunity to thrive.
The Colorado Challenge: A State at a Crossroads
The Silent Crisis in the Centennial State
Behind the breathtaking beauty of Colorado’s mountains and plains and the vibrant energy of its cities lies a stark and challenging reality. Too many of our neighbors, friends, and family members are struggling with their mental health in silence. The data paints a picture not of isolated incidents, but of a widespread public health crisis that demands a coordinated, systemic response. These figures are not just statistics; they are a call to action for every Coloradan.
The scale of the challenge is immense. According to the 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS), more than one in four Coloradans—26.2%, or an estimated 1.5 million people—suffered from poor mental health, defined as experiencing eight or more days of poor mental health in the previous month. This is the highest number ever recorded by the survey, indicating that the mental health strains exacerbated by the pandemic have not receded but have become a persistent feature of our state’s health landscape.
This places Colorado in a deeply concerning position nationally. As of 2024, analyses from Mental Health America and the Common Sense Institute rank Colorado as having the second-highest prevalence of mental illness in the entire United States, second only to Oregon. This is not a new problem; for years, Colorado has ranked among the worst states for adult mental health indicators, a persistent issue that underscores the urgent need for a new approach that goes beyond maintenance and repair of a fundamentally flawed system. The consequences of this high prevalence are devastating. While the total number of annual suicides in Colorado has seen a slight decline from its peak of 1,370 in 2021, the state lost 1,290 lives to suicide in 2023. Colorado’s suicide rate remains one of the highest in the nation, a tragic outcome that highlights profound gaps in our system of care.
The crisis is compounded by significant barriers to accessing care. In 2023, an estimated 880,000 Coloradans reported that they could not get the mental health care they needed. This represents 17% of the population and is more than double the rate from just six years prior, in 2017. The nature of this barrier reveals a critical shift in the landscape. For years, cost and health-based discrimination were the primary obstacles. Thanks to years of sustained advocacy to enforce mental health parity laws and reduce discrimination, these barriers have lessened. However, this progress has uncovered a deeper, more systemic challenge. In 2023, for the first time, the single biggest reason people could not get care—cited by 57.2% of those who went without—was the inability to get an appointment. This points to a severe workforce shortage and a system that is overwhelmed by demand, a problem that can only be solved through the kind of policy and systems-level change that Mental Health Colorado champions.
Furthermore, this crisis does not affect all communities equally. The 2023 CHAS data reveals profound disparities, with more than half (54.4%) of LGBTQ+ Coloradans reporting poor mental health, a rate nearly double that of their straight and cisgender peers (27.8%). Hispanic or Latino Coloradans also reported higher rates of mental health challenges (30.0%) compared to white Coloradans (25.0%). These disparities underscore the need for culturally competent care and equitable policies that address the unique stressors and barriers faced by marginalized communities.
Our Blueprint for a Healthier Colorado
A Three-Pillar Strategy for Systemic Change
Pillar One: Passing Laws
Our primary tool for creating large-scale change is non-partisan legislative advocacy. From the Capitol to the community, we work with lawmakers from both parties, state agencies, and community partners to craft and pass laws that directly improve the lives of Coloradans. We are a constant presence at the State Capitol, testifying, educating, and building coalitions to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are at the center of the policymaking process.
Our legislative victories are not abstract; they have real-world consequences. For example, recognizing the escalating youth mental health crisis, we championed SB24-001, a landmark bill that made the “I Matter” program permanent. This ensures that any youth in Colorado can access up to six free therapy sessions, a critical lifeline that is now a permanent part of our state’s support system. In another groundbreaking effort, we led the fight for SB23-176, the nation’s first-ever law to prohibit insurance companies from using the antiquated and discriminatory Body Mass Index (BMI) metric to deny or determine the level of care for eating disorders. This bill, which also restricted youth access to prescription diet pills, dismantled a significant barrier to recovery for thousands. These are just two examples of how we leverage policy to create a more equitable and accessible system of care.
Pillar Two: Changing Practices
Passing a law is only part of the work. True change occurs when those laws are implemented effectively and transform the day-to-day practices of our institutions. Mental Health Colorado works on the ground with state and local partners to ensure that policy becomes practice and that better practices inform changes in policy.
A cornerstone of this work is our effort to disentangle mental health and criminal justice. For too long, law enforcement has been the default first responder for people in a mental health crisis, leading to tragic outcomes and cycling individuals with health conditions through jails and prisons. Through our Course Corrections initiative, we unite leaders and communities to advocate for a health-based response. We also work to change practices in our schools. Recognizing that lifelong well-being begins in childhood, we developed comprehensive School and Early Childhood Mental Health Toolkits and continue to host a statewide virtual School Mental Health Community of Practice. These resources provide evidence-based best practices for school districts, educators, and families to implement, fund, and sustain mental health services in schools, ensuring a strong start for every Colorado child.
Pillar Three: Building a Movement
Lasting change requires more than just policy experts and committed lawmakers; it requires the sustained will of the people. Mental Health Colorado builds this will by educating the public and mobilizing a powerful, statewide grassroots movement.
The heart of this movement is our Brain Wave advocacy network. This network is comprised of nearly 2,000 grassroots advocates from across Colorado—individuals with lived experience, family members, care providers, first responders and concerned citizens—who lend their voices and stories to our work. Their personal testimony is our most powerful tool for change. During the 2024 legislative session alone, Brain Wave advocates testified in committee hearings 34 times, bringing the human impact of policy debates directly to lawmakers and illustrating why these issues matter.
We also build the movement by empowering all Coloradans with knowledge and accessible tools. Our website offers free, anonymous, and confidential online mental health screenings for a variety of conditions. The demand for these tools highlights the profound need for private, accessible resources. In a single year during the pandemic, our site provided 21,990 screenings—a staggering 267% increase from the previous year—reflecting a statewide and national surge in mental health concerns and the public’s desire for information and support. By providing these resources, we help individuals take the first step in understanding their mental health and, in doing so, build a more informed and engaged public.
This three-pillar strategy creates a productive cycle: the Movement we build creates the political will for Passing Laws. Those laws, once implemented, begin Changing Practices. The success of new practices provides the evidence and stories that further fuel and grow the Movement and inform new laws, leading to even greater change.
A Legacy of Impact, A Future of Hope
Our story began in 1953, born from a collective desire to replace the iron shackles and deep-seated discrimination against people with mental health conditions with hope, dignity, and care. In our earliest days, as the Colorado Association for Mental Health, we joined a national movement symbolized by the Mental Health Bell. This 300-pound bell, cast from the melted-down chains and shackles that once restrained people in asylums, rings out as a permanent reminder of our mission: that the chains of misunderstanding and discrimination must be broken, and that recovery and enhanced wellbeing is possible.
From advocating for the creation of community mental health centers in the 1960s and launching innovative youth skills programs in the 1980s, to leading the charge for mental health parity in the 2000s and championing the nation’s most progressive legislation today, our core purpose has remained unwavering. For more than seven decades, we have been at the forefront of every major step forward for mental health in Colorado.
Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the mentally ill and victory over mental illness.
– Inscription on Mental Health Bell
Our Impact by The Numbers
Our effectiveness is measured not just in years, but in tangible results. Through strategic, non-partisan advocacy, we have achieved landmark victories that are reshaping Colorado’s mental health landscape.