Commún - A Community of Mental Health

It’s a Tuesday evening in Denver’s Harvey Park neighborhood. Everyone’s tired from work and school, and yet forty people, from young children to older adults, speaking Spanish, English, and Arabic, are gathering. Can you imagine why?

At Commún, the reason is two-fold: community and mental health. “Healing happens in a clinical setting, but it also happens when you have a meal together, when you sit in community together,” says Bre Holligan, Mental Health Program Manager. “Sometimes there's a disconnect between these two spaces of healing, but our goal is to bring them together.”

The evening begins at four o’clock with a meal, open to everyone. Folks gather in a large group and enjoy food, connect with old and new friends, and talk with one another. Then they split into five specialty groups, including a horticultural group for caregivers, an intergenerational reading group, and another group for teens who talk about bi-cultural experiences when living in the United States and what it is like to navigate the culture of school and home life with family. All of these groups are professionally facilitated. Another group on Thursday is dedicated just to seniors, creating space to process the grief and loss that comes with aging.

Starting from this holistic place, the Commún staff then offers individual and family counseling. Therapist Mikayla Palma joined Commún in September and has fallen in love with the power of this approach. “So much of what we’re taught is that healing happens within the setting of a therapy room,” she says. “But being responsive, listening to everyone’s voices in a community setting, this is a huge part of the therapeutic work.”

Viviana de la Torre is earning her Masters in Social Work MSW at Metropolitan State University. She interns with the mental health program and provides navigation to services for community members. In one meeting, she might help someone with needs as diverse as eye care and their Xcel bill. “The community trusts us,” she says. “We honor our relationships, and we help people understand what it is to have a mental health team who also lives and works in their community.”

“Sharing in these spaces is vulnerable, so honoring confidentiality is important. Creating trust in the community is paramount,” says Bre. "When you do things differently, sometimes it just takes longer. But it's worth it, because we are doing it with both client and staff's wellbeing at the forefront."

To learn more about Commún’s mental health work, visit https://commundenver.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/commundenver/ . Commún’s mental health care work is generously supported by the Caring for Denver Foundation.