Roy Starks, MA

As the director of the rehabilitation program for the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) for more than 25 years, Roy has expanded the services to provide supported employment and supported education to over 1500 people annually. He has helped develop a resource center, which provides food, clothing, furniture, etc. to thousands of people receiving services at MHCD. He also serves as the director of Reaching Recovery. In this role, he develops relationships with other mental health centers to implement instruments to measure recovery developed by MHCD. MHCD has demonstrated that a process of measuring people’s recovery and the development of a wellness culture for staff, leads to increased recovery outcomes. Roy also oversees a very large peer provider workforce including peer mentors, and peer specialists. We also have added a young adult program which combines clinical and rehabilitation services in one facility for ages 14 to 26. Roy has provided extensive consultation, training, and workshops on the topics of recovery transformation.
 
Roy understands and appreciates the challenges faced by mental health providers. His personal experience includes overcoming childhood trauma that has increased his commitment to the recovery of people with mental illness. He recognizes that people with mental illness can recover and that we can create systems, which promote this process.