Mental Health Colorado is a nonpartisan health advocacy organization working to pass laws, change practices, and build a movement to promote healthier minds across the lifespan for all Coloradans.
When you give to Mental Health Colorado, you aren’t just helping one person receive care and support, you are helping to ensure everyone can receive the care and support they need. Together, we are not just finding ways to navigate a broken system better, we’re changing it for future generations, creating stronger pathways to care and building momentum for lasting change.
Community support and partnership fuel this mission. Every gift of any amount is valued and has a positive impact, helping to build the movement for healthier minds across the lifespan for all Coloradans.
What can your gift today do?
$25 – Spark Awareness – Support social campaigns that highlight mental health policy and educate those interested in contributing to change.
$50 – Expand Understanding – Help fund outreach campaigns and educational materials that start life-changing conversations about mental health.
$100 – Ensure Access – Help provide access to screenings, resources, supports and services for mental health, harmful substance use, homelessness and aging.
$150 – Elevate Voices – Support community convenings, events and advocacy efforts that amplify lived experiences and end health-based discrimination statewide
$500 – Drive Policy Change – Advance research, legislative engagement and advocacy that turns ideas into policy reforms prioritizing pathways to care and wellbeing over pathways to incarceration
$1,000 - Strengthen Our Workforce - Provide support for workforce development, training the next generation of policy makers and community leaders through the Mental Health Colorado Internship Program
During this giving season, please join us in the mission by making a gift to help build a Colorado where our policies, practices and systems support every person’s opportunity for health and wellbeing.
“Mental illness can be a very scary thing. But when you’re motivated to be a part of something bigger than yourself, that trumps vanquishes fear.” - Evan
Mental Health Colorado promotes healthier minds across the life span for all Coloradans.
Mental Health Colorado engages policymakers, providers, the public, and the press to pass laws, change practices and advocate for healthier minds through strategic efforts to advocate for a strong start for all children; support for families; access to housing, health care, supports and services; wellness in aging; reducing potential harms from drugs and alcohol; decriminalizing mental health conditions; and ending health-based discrimination.
Mental Health Colorado (MHC) was founded in 1953 as the Colorado Association for Mental Health, in response to urgent concerns about the inhumane conditions at state institutions in Ridge and Grand Junction. Our original mission was to advocate for humane treatment, public education, and stigma reduction at a time when mental illness was widely misunderstood and often met with neglect or institutionalization. Over the decades, our work has evolved in response to shifting social needs and growing awareness of mental health as a public health issue.
Today, Mental Health Colorado is a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to expanding access to housing, healthcare, supports and services; advancing policy reform; and dismantling systemic barriers to care and wellbeing. Our mission reflects a broader understanding of mental health as inseparable from housing, education, criminal justice, and social equity. Through legislative advocacy, public education, and direct community engagement, we work to ensure that every Coloradan has the opportunity to experience greater health of mind—without discrimination, financial hardship, or systemic obstacles.
From our origins in institutional reform to our current leadership in statewide policy and community-based care, we continue to champion health as a human priority and a public good.
MHC’s current goals reflect a comprehensive, equity-driven approach to health advocacy across the state. We focus on dismantling systemic barriers to care, expanding access to services, and promoting mental well-being for all Coloradans, regardless of income, geography, or background. Our core goals include:
Expanding Access to Care: We advocate for policies that increase availability of health services, especially in underserved communities and rural areas.
Reducing Discrimination: We promote public education campaigns and legislative reforms that decriminalize mental health conditions and eliminate health-based discrimination.
Improving Crisis Response Systems: We support the development of compassionate, community-based crisis response models that reduce reliance on law enforcement and emergency rooms.
Advancing Policy Reform: We champion legislation that addresses factors that contribute to health, including housing stability, substance use prevention, and eviction protections.
Promoting Equity in Mental Health: We work to ensure that care is culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and tailored to the unique needs of individuals and families across the lifespan.
Engaging Communities: We mobilize Coloradans through our statewide Brain Wave network to advocate for health policy and share lived experiences with lawmakers and the public.
We remain committed to building a future where health is viewed as a top human priority and every person has the opportunity thrive.
Organization name
Mental Health Colorado
other names
Mental Health Colorado, MHC, Mental Health America of Colorado
1953
Tax id (EIN)
84-0446365
Category
Mental Health & Crisis Intervention, Youth Development, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Education, Human Services, Public & Societal Benefit
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
303 East 17th Avenue Fourth FloorCO, US