Mental Health Partners: Building a Healthier Broomfield Through Whole-Person Care Mental health has been a community concern for years - a concern that has increased exponentially during the past 12 months as COVID-19 has exacerbated anxiety, fear, and grief. With private mental health services stretched thin even before the pandemic, communitybased services like Mental Health Partners (MHP) are filling a critical need.
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Our Broomfield™ Magazine | February 2021
By Kristen Beckman
Mental Health Partners is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community mental health center with seven locations in Broomfield, Boulder, Lafayette, and Longmont. The organization provides whole-person care focused on outpatient therapy and addiction recovery services along with other services that address factors that impact mental health. “We have found that mental health issues often have a co-relationship with something else going on in people’s lives,” said Kristina Shaw, public information officer at MHP. “Perhaps a person is homeless, or they can’t find a job, and now they are having depression because of that. We try to address what is going on in somebody’s entire life through supportive services, as well as mental health care.” Those services, coordinated through MHP’s CARE team, include medication management, housing support, life skills training, peer support, and wellness coaching. Shaw said MHP is a safety net for the community, keeping people experiencing a mental health crisis out of emergency rooms, providing appropriate care and resources for those who need care, and helping build a healthier community for everyone. Localized care is a cornerstone of MHP’s approach because it allows care providers to direct clients to the most appropriate nearby resources that can help them address their individual challenges. In addition, local care helps remove barriers to accessing clinical care, including transportation and childcare issues.
