Our History

A Community bonded through Tragedy

The year was 1970, and the town of Granby, Colorado was reeling from four tragic suicides that were all completed within a short period of time. Residents and professionals in the mountain towns of Colorado knew that providing access to mental health care was imperative, and an entity named Colorado West was born of individual mental health practices across the western slope.

Colorado West organized their network offices in 1972 as a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation, primarily funded by the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH). After federal fiscal support for mental health shifted largely to individual states in the ’80s, Colorado West worked to secure funding from contracts, foundations, corporate grants, insurance and the generosity of the local community.

Reflective Transformation

In the ’80s and ’90s the organization service area grew to cover a 23,000 square mile area of Northwestern Colorado, in 13 cities and towns across 10 counties of the western slope. In 2005, when all existing western slope psychiatric units were closing, Mind Springs Health stepped up and established the only psychiatric hospital between Denver and Salt Lake City, the original 32-bed West Springs Hospital. The ’00s were not particularly kind to the organization which struggled to find stability in clinical, operational and fiscal areas. Longtime Executive Director Ken Stein, who had overseen much of the organization’s expansion, retired. Shortly thereafter, enter Sharon Raggio LPC LMFT.

As CEO & President of Mind Springs Health & West Springs Hospital, Sharon has been and is the architect of both today’s and tomorrow’s successes. Today, Mind Springs Health and West Springs Hospital are clinically, operationally and fiscally strong. It is through her leadership that they both succeed so vitally. Indeed, there would not be a new West Springs Hospital without her vision and effort.

To better reflect the enormous positive expansion and organizational changes the organization made, what was once known as Colorado West transformed in 2013 into Mind Springs Health and West Springs Hospital. Mind Springs Health and West Springs Hospital are the best local choice for mental health care because our philosophy places special focus on our clients, patients and collaboration within our local communities.

Continual Improvement

Mind Springs Health continues to expand and enhance treatment options, and establish new programs and partnerships in the community to provide comprehensive mental health care.

A private and secure TeleHealth system allows clients to video chat with their providers from the comfort of our therapy offices, and soon from the comfort of a home computer/phone, allowing clients to be connected to a provider regardless of location. This opens up the full resources of Mind Springs Health are to all, wherever they live within our territory.

Perhaps the most important evidence of continual improvement is the new West Springs Hospital, which opened in December 2018, doubling the number of people that can be treated. The new West Springs Hospital is a world-class, innovative environment, complementing our world-class psychiatric team.