A Decade of Community Impact

Lasting Community Impact

In Colorado, most behavioral health services are provided by social workers like Corcoran and her team. Yet, some rural communities have no mental health providers — particularly worrisome given the relatively high suicide and substance use rates in rural Colorado. According to Mental Health America’s 2022 State of Mental Health in America report, Colorado adults have a higher prevalence of mental health issues and lower rates of access to care, with the state ranking last among all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on measures of mental health, substance use prevalence and access to care.

GSSW’s satellite programs were created to help change that.

Corcoran says, “This program educates social workers that stay in our community. After five cohorts of graduates, I see social workers all over this community now that were trained in this program. Social workers are important to raising up folks in our community, and when there’s a network of us, we’re even better at that.”

While GSSW’s Four Corners MSW Program serves Southwestern Colorado and neighboring states, the Western Colorado MSW Program draws students from western and central Colorado mountain towns such as Eagle, Vail, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Breckenridge. Corcoran notes that the Western Colorado Program “offers an opportunity to this community that otherwise doesn’t exist. There’s no other master’s program you can do in person in this community.”

West Mountain Regional Health Alliance Executive Director Cristina Gair remembers hearing about plans to establish the Western Colorado MSW Program. “I thought it was great because we have such a need for social work and mental health providers. It’s really exciting creating that place where people who are already here can become more skilled and offer that in their professional role in the community.”

The Western Colorado MSW Program’s emphasis on rural social work is particularly important, says Gair, citing geography, the high cost of living, and the complexity of coordinating resources as some of the challenges unique to the rural context. “Our needs are different than an urban area.” She says the program’s generalist approach is another strength. “Being able to work at both the micro and macro level, often there’s some overlap working with community resources and addressing the whole person and their need.”

Western Colorado MSW Program Director and Professor of the Practice Rachel Forbes also highlights the unique ethical dilemmas social workers might encounter working in small towns. Forbes explains that in the metropolitan Denver area, a social worker might never bump into a client outside of the office, but in rural settings, they might run into a client at the grocery store or at their kid’s baseball game. She adds, “We have the same degree requirements as Denver and online, but we tailor other opportunities to make sure the course content speaks to rural needs and that our urban-centric curriculum is brought here in a way that feels relevant.”

Over the past decade, approximately 100 social workers have graduated from the Western Colorado MSW Program, with most remaining in western Colorado. Notably, the program has experienced an increase in bilingual English/Spanish-speaking applicants; as a result, the program is able to admit more students who will ultimately be able to serve the burgeoning Spanish-speaking community in Colorado’s mountain towns.

Building Community Partnerships

Around 2011, key community partners in western Colorado — such as Garfield County Human Services and Colorado Mountain College — began discussing the need for more social workers in the region, and they approached James Herbert Williams, GSSW’s then-current dean, about starting a program similar to the Four Corners MSW Program. GSSW Professors Jean East (MSW ’79, PhD’95) and Karen Bensen (MSW ’91) then began exploratory work, getting to know western Colorado and its needs to determine whether a satellite MSW program was the right fit.

It was. Forbes became the Western Colorado MSW Program director in early summer 2013, and in August of that year, the first cohort of students started classes.

It was a big job. Forbes was simultaneously familiarizing herself with a new community while establishing field partnerships and building other aspects of the program from scratch. She joined boards, began volunteering and logged thousands of miles driving between mountain towns as she nurtured partnerships with government and nonprofit agencies and organizations. She recalls, “I spent a lot of face time building those relationships. In the rural context, that’s a lot of how trust and relationships are formed. In rural settings, there might be one social worker in the whole county.”

Forbes notes that in an era where Zoom is ubiquitous and online degrees are readily available, place-based programs like the Western Colorado MSW program provide something unique, especially because not all students want to learn online. Even more importantly, she says, students benefit from a cohort of approximately 20 students and a well-connected and deeply engaged local alumni and professional network. “When students go through the program, they’re building social capital in addition to building skills. They’re coming out with this rich network of relationships that will support them in their practice and in the job market.”

In fact, Forbes notes, Western Colorado MSW graduates typically have jobs even before they graduate. As alumni, they go on to give guest lectures and supervise student interns. “It’s an investment in your network, which is really important for those who stay in the area.”

Forbes says the Western Colorado MSW Program’s cumulative value and impact can be measured by the number of its graduates and the lives they touch, or by the social impact of 100,000 internship hours completed by MSW students over the past decade. What resonates most for Forbes, however, is the expansion of the region’s social work infrastructure. “I think of the programs and roles that didn’t exist before we came into the valley.”

Corcoran’s position is one of those. Women’s Health at Valley View Hospital wanted to hire its first social worker but didn’t know where to start. Forbes partnered with them to help establish the role, which Corcoran ultimately filled. Corcoran then went on to build the regional hospital’s behavioral health program.

Gair recalls that Forbes recommended an MSW student for a position with her organization, which eventually resulted in creation of the Valley Alliance to End Homelessness in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties.

Ultimately, Forbes says, helping rural Colorado communities to establish a local social work infrastructure is the core mission of the Western Colorado MSW Program. “We’re here to be of service to these organizations that have asked us to be here.”

Untapped Potential

While social workers in western Colorado have to grapple with ever-growing behavioral health needs, they are also contending with significant social challenges that affect vulnerable populations. Forbes hopes to see the Western Colorado MSW Program, GSSW and the University of Denver as a whole invest in helping to address western Colorado’s emerging needs, such as adding more bilingual English/Spanish-speaking social workers, training social workers to serve the growing geriatric population, addressing housing insecurity and homelessness, and expanding sustainability and nature-based programming.

Forbes says, “There’s still so much we can do to live into the mission of the University and its strategic plan. We have these campuses and communities out here — I look forward to continuing to invest out here and answering the call for whatever the issues might be.”

Gair says the Western Colorado MSW Program “has been a huge game changer in the workforce for our region. I can’t stress enough the value this workforce is creating for our hospitals, our private clinics, and our government and community organizations.” The more people the region has addressing issues such as housing and food insecurity and the need for behavioral health care, she says, “the more we’ll be able to help people through the challenges they’re facing.”

Images from the Western Colorado MSW Program 10th Anniversary Celebration