A Letter to the RMHS Community
January 12, 2026
Dear Community,
As we enter 2026, I want to pause, reflect on the past year, and offer my sincere thanks. RMHS exists to serve alongside you, and this year has been a powerful reminder that progress happens through partnership. Individuals with lived experience, families, providers, advocates, neighbors, funders, and public partners all help shape the work we do together. We are deeply grateful for your trust and your collaboration.
This has been a year of real movement. Across Colorado, we have navigated complex federal and statewide changes to Long-Term Services and Supports. While these changes are intended to strengthen access over time, they have also created challenges for individuals and families in the short term. Your patience, honesty, and advocacy have helped us understand what people are experiencing and where systems need to do better. Through all of this, our shared commitment has helped keep people supported and connected.
Amid the complexity, there were meaningful wins this year. In collaboration with you and those we serve, RMHS strengthened how services take shape in real life:
- We continued supporting people and families to understand options, enroll in services, and stay connected to the care and support that fit their goals and needs.
- We made important progress in stabilizing how people enter and move through services. The behind-the-scenes work to strengthen and standardize processes has a simple purpose: people getting answers faster, services starting sooner, and fewer families left feeling alone in a complicated system.
- We deepened partnerships across Denver and beyond — in disability services, behavioral health, homelessness response, veterans supports, and community-based initiatives — because better outcomes happen when we work together.
- We kept sharing resources, guidance, and community information, because knowing where to start is often the first step to getting needed support.
These gains belong to all of us. They happened because our community stayed engaged, because partners collaborated generously, and because RMHS staff continued to lead with care and persistence.
A clear reality as we look to 2026
I also want to be direct about the landscape we are entering. Colorado — and the nation — are navigating serious budget pressures. State budget reductions and federal Medicaid policy changes are already underway, with more conversations happening right now. We know these shifts may affect waivers, benefits, and provider systems, and that uncertainty can be deeply unsettling for the people who rely on these supports.
Here is what I can promise you as we move into the new year:
- We will lead with transparency. You will hear what we know, when we know it — even when the news is hard. If we don’t have an answer yet, we will say that plainly and keep sharing information as it becomes available.
- We will advocate loudly for the people we serve. Systems only work when people can access care that supports safety, dignity, independence, and full community life. We will continue to advocate for that — alongside you.
- We will stay mission anchored. Decisions in 2026 will be guided by a single North Star: prioritizing the people and communities we serve, and protecting access to supports that make community-based lives possible.
What I hope for in the coming year
My hope for 2026 is that we keep building a stronger and more responsive system — not in spite of change, but through it. I hope we continue improving how people experience services from the very first point of contact. I hope we stay connected as a community, especially when the road feels uncertain. And I hope every person who turns to RMHS feels what I know to be true about this organization: that they are seen, respected, and supported in the ways they need.
Thank you for walking beside us this year. We are grateful for you, and we are committed to continuing this work together in 2026.
With appreciation and resolve,
Shari Repinski
Chief Executive Officer, RMHS
