About Us
Who We Are
We are the community mental health center for Denver County. The Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) in not a City or state agency. We are a private charitable organization. The State of Colorado contracts with us to serve people in this community who have serious mental illness (our consumers).
Who we serve
- Our consumers and their families live in Denver.
- Of 6500 adults and children we serve, 5000 are over 18 and 1500 are under 18.
- Consumers receive outpatient services at our clinics.
Where we serve
- We operate seven outpatient clinics for adults around Denver.
- We manage 23 residences for people recovering from mental illness.
- We operate two clinics for children and families.
- We provide employment training and education at 2Succeed in Education and 2Succeed in employment.
- We provide help and support at the MHCD Resource Center.
We serve more than 1,000 children through school-based programs and other community collaborations. - We provide mental health counseling services in 14 Denver public school health clinics.
- We operate a 16-student day treatment school in our main building for children ages 6-14 with serious emotional problems. Here they can continue their education and get the help they need to return to the regular classroom
- We work in three homeless shelters and more than a dozen nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
- We go into homes to help families.
MHCD is Colorado's only community based mental health center with specialized services for deaf and hard of hearing children, adolescents, adults and families.
We provide confidential, professional, affordable mental health services to individuals, families, partners, friends and caregivers of those affected by HIV/AIDS.
MHCD is sensitive to the cultural needs of Denver's Hispanic community. El Centro de las Familias provides comprehensive, bilingual mental health services to Spanish speaking adults, children and families.
Our Staff
MHCD employs more than 450 professionals that include psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, nurses, case managers, social workers, vocational counselors, teachers, pharmacists, residential counselors, medical assistants and support staff.
Our mission: Enriching lives and minds by focusing on strengths and recovery.
At MHCD we believe that people with mental illness can recover and should have that chance. We are working toward that goal.
Everyday we take one homeless person off the street. That means we get them into treatment and into housing and back on the road to recovery. Yet, there are far more than 365 homeless people in Denver.
We admit an additional seven people in treatment each day, but we have to turn away 17. Seventeen people just like you and me except they have something wrong with their brain and their thinking and cannot get the treatment they need to recover. They cannot afford it. One in five Coloradoans needs mental health services each year, yet less than one-third receive care. |
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These shocking numbers do not convey the pain and anguish of lost jobs, lost families and friends, lost homes and the lost lives of those who go without treatment for mental illness. Imagine going without treatment for diabetes or heart disease. It's an overwhelming tragedy.
Many are Children
No one likes to think about it but the reality is that there are children that have mental illness and there are children that have been traumatized. We wish that children weren't sexually abused. We wish that children had not experienced trauma or physical violence or seeing someone killed. We can wish for those things, but those things are going to happen. These are the children we help at MHCD.
Nearly 80% of the 1500 children we serve have experienced some type of trauma – the most common are sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect or violence exposure.
One in 5 high school students think about suicide – teenage Hispanic girls are at the highest risk.
Forty percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have serious mental health issues; 83% have substance about issues.
Children can develop mental illness at a very young age. They can develop depression, bi-polar disorder and other conditions that affect learning and paying attention.
Left untreated, young lives can slip into hopelessness and despair to be lost forever.
Children need treatment to grow up and to be happy adults and productive members of our community.
There are thousands of children in Denver who need our help. At MHCD we take in every adult and child that we can – but there are far more out there that we cannot serve until we increase capacity. A healthy mind means a healthy life. We want the community to understand emotional and mental health issues and how important they are to the health of community and the people in it. |
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Our belief is recovery from mental illness is possible with the right treatment. The more you know, the more likely you are to say – prevention and treatment is the key.
We need to increase our capacity so we can serve more children and adults; our doctors and therapists should be wherever they are needed in Denver.
We need the community's support for our day-to-day work. We need support for treatment that leads to recovery and increased capacity and for critical services that can prevent thousands of lives from being ruined.
We are passionate about the difference we make in the lives of thousands of Denver residents. Thank you for your interest in the Mental Health Center of Denver.
A gift to MHCD is an investment in the future of our community. Click here to find out how to help.