Each month we spotlight a different member of our wonderful, all-volunteer team. Get to know the people dedicating their time to increasing access to care at Therapy4thePeople.
This spotlight first appeared in the April 2022 edition of our monthly newsletter.
What is your current role at Therapy4thePeople?
I am currently the Regional Ambassador for Colorado, specifically the Denver Metro area. As part of my work, I search for and add mental health service listings to the directory. I am also creating a fact sheet on various mental health facts about the Denver metro area. Finally, I have connected and am continuing to work on connecting with providers who serve the Denver metro low-income communities to understand the mental health needs that their community has.
What’s something special about your region that other people may not know?
Denver is expanding its mobile crisis team (STAR; that responds without police) because the mobile crisis team was so successful in the first year of its inception. [Source: www.denvergov.org].gov]
What motivated you to join Therapy4thePeople?
I joined Therapy4thePeople because I care about everyone having equal access to mental healthcare and wanted to play my part in closing the gap in inequities in accessing care. I believe that Therapy4thePeople is doing wonderful work in closing this gap. Additionally, by being part of the team I am learning more about resources that can be offered to people trying to access services without insurance in order to better understand what marginalized communities need, which also informs my research.
Where are you currently in your career, and where do you hope to go?
I am currently a first year Public Health Sciences PhD student. My research looks at inequities in accessing mental healthcare for marginalized populations and how we can use policy to change the mental healthcare system. In the future, I would like to work in a role that translates research into policy in a non-profit, consulting or government capacity. Specifically, I want to partner with communities to jointly research important topics related to increasing access to mental healthcare.
