Local Pride festivities recognizing all things LGBTQ+ came last weekend and went for another year, but Diversus Health in Colorado Springs is continuing to offer free individual counseling, peer support and a support group for survivors of the mass shooting at Club Q on Nov. 19, 2022, as well as the queer community in general.

The services have been popular, said Tammy Laborde, clinical program supervisor for the Club Q Impact Team of Diversus, a nonprofit mental and behavioral health provider.

“When Club Q happened, people dispersed to different therapists, and we’re here to pick it up,” she said. “Diversus has done a lot of work in order to meet people where their needs are at this time.”

Over the past year, more than 900 LGBTQ+ people have accessed the services, which focus on healing clients from trauma and restoring trust.

“The biggest thing is that free is always good, and if there is somebody out there that is part of the queer community and that is struggling and needs our help to function because of the tragedy — even if they weren’t at Club Q that night — we are here to help treat that,” Laborde said.

Long waits for psychiatric appointments have been common in the Pikes Peak region, which she said has not served the population well.

“We’re hoping to reduce that with our team,” she said. “If someone from the queer population were to walk in, you would go through immediate access — we complete the assessment that day and you’re seen by a therapist that day.”

In addition to Laborde working as the clinical supervisor, the team includes a therapist and four peer specialists, who have experience with grief or trauma and “walk side-by-side with you, helping you to meet your wellness goals, so you can get back to some type of the level of functioning you had before the tragedy occurred.”

A federal grant awarded to the state and funneled to Diversus is covering the cost of the services. The grant expires at the end of March 2025.

Though June is recognized nationwide as Pride Month, pride of self-identity and expression is year-round, Laborde said.

“We’re trying to teach people about advocacy to sustain the momentum and how is it we can petition certain things at the Capitol to keep the queer community healing,” she said.

Developing safe spaces has been a concern for the queer population since the shooting at the nightclub that regulars said felt more like a home than a business. The bar has been shut down since, and a memorial for the five lives lost during the shooting that was determined to be a hate crime is planned for the site.

Colorado Springs’ only other gay bar, Icons, has been closed since Dec. 4, when a neighboring business caught fire, taking the row of downtown merchants off the market for repairs. Icons announced in May its plans for a new downtown location on Kiowa Street.

In March, two former Club Q employees opened a bar and lounge, The Q, in a different part of town, inside the Satellite Hotel.

The Prism Community Collective, a new counseling, resource and hangout center with various offerings for survivors and the queer population, opened this month.

Diversus is providing therapeutic services as part of the collective and also offers trainings in the community about trauma and interacting with the LGBTQ+ population.

“We’re helping facilitate change and building more allies for the queer population,” Laborde said. “We’re trying to offer different spaces, especially non-alcoholic spaces; a lot of people connect the queer community with drinking or drugs, and we’re looking what is it we can do in this situation to make it a little better.”

For more information on free treatment, go to https://diversushealth.org/get-mental-health-help/club-q-impact-services-programs.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the date of the attack at Club Q.