After over a year of the pandemic, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Cases of COVID are going down as people get vaccinated and things are starting to reopen. Many people are seeing friends and family again after a year or more apart. But how are people doing when it comes to mental health?
Hans Lutgring is the Glenwood Springs Outpatient Program Director at Mind Springs Health. Lutgring said that while the pandemic is seemingly winding down, there’s still a high local demand for mental health services, but there are some silver linings from this past year.
“I think there’s a collective awareness that mental health is not separate — you cannot unpack that from our overall health, our overall wellness, our community wellness,” he said.
As part of our mental health series “High Risk At High Altitude,” arts and culture reporter Kirsten Dobroth spoke with Lutgring about where we are now when it comes to people’s mental health.