AspenOUT, the nonprofit behind Aspen Gay Ski Week, saw twice as many clients request financial support for therapy in the past year as it did in 2024.
The organization serves the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys’ LGBTQIA+ community by organizing social events and funding therapeutic services — providing scholarships for mental health support through the Jack Raife Mental Health Fund.
Kimberly Kuliga was named the nonprofit’s executive director in June 2025, and she has been tracking the sharp rise in requests for mental health care support, talking to event attendees as part of a needs assessment.
She spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Regan Mertz about how the organization is addressing these needs, and how the organization is evolving in 2026.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Regan Mertz: So, obviously, you have been involved with AspenOUT, but you were officially named the new executive director [last June].
So, could you talk to me a little bit about how that transition's been into that role, and what changes — what initiatives you are looking to do?
Kimberly Kuliga: So, the last few months that I've transitioned into the executive director [role], I've been doing a lot of groundwork, and I'm in the process of creating a strategic plan with our board from all of that information that I've learned, and also doing a needs assessment throughout the community for both adults and youth.
We've been doing different programs, for example, Hues + Brews with The Art Base, which is [an] all-inclusive — allies are welcome — monthly program.
We just partnered for a holiday party, and it was amazing to see over 30 people show up and participate, and just talking to those people that were there attending, realizing that they're just wanting to do more and more community events in safe spaces where they can be their authentic selves.
And it's really showing that our community — the LGBTQIA+ community — is really in need for more and more programming and community gatherings.
Mertz: How have you seen awareness and support for the LGBTQIA+ community change in AspenOUT’s history?
Kuliga: When we first started the mental health fund, it started with one therapist that expressed a need, and that grew from just a few hours to 100 hours to 300 hours to 600 hours. I think mental health in our valley has always been a battle.
So, for us, I want to bring more art and cultural gatherings for both the youth and our adults throughout the valley, from Aspen to Parachute, but I want to make them more consistent monthly events. And those are all pride events.
Let's do a hike and get together. Let's do, let’s meet up for ski dates. Let's meet up for dinners. Let's meet up for art and sips. Let's meet up for a book club — a queer book club. And you'll see that on our calendar.
Mertz: And you had mentioned there that you've seen the need grow, and in what ways have you seen that grow?
Kuliga: Well, with our current administration taking away, the risk of taking away human rights, also taking funding away from DEI, taking federal funding away from mental health — that all affects us directly at a local level, and then you take the LGBTQIA+ audience, which is even smaller. It puts people in crises mode. So, we are able to track that one from our mental health fund — the amount of people that are applying for our scholarships.
The Jack Raife fund started when, sadly, Jack Raife took his own life, and his mother had to go through a lot of financial situations. And she took her grief, and wanted to turn that grief into something positive.
They were able to raise $100,000. The first round of that was for youth that needed specific inpatient scholarships to help with the financial burden on families. It can be extremely expensive.
Mertz: And do you find that living in this sort of rural resort community, that resources such as therapy, specifically for like the LGBTQIA+ group, makes it more difficult?
Kuliga: I mean, absolutely. I mean, you take this valley, you look at our suicide rate in general — it's higher per capita than most places. And then you take a very expensive place to live, and you take the fact that health insurance is extremely expensive, and many therapists aren't even taking health insurance anymore. It's kind of the perfect storm for people to be in crises and not be able to get the services that they need.
We gave the Aspen Hope Center some money, and they were able to train 40 of their therapists. We also are going to — with these therapists that we work with — provide training sessions for therapists in the valley that may not have the training so that we can expand resources.
So, I think for 2026 what you're going to see is just more community programming, both for our youth as well as adults.
Editor’s Note: If you are in crisis, you can call the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 9-8-8.
Support for this Nonprofit Spotlight series comes from the Aspen Community Foundation.
