Urgent care center for mental health crises opens in Burlington

A new mental health urgent care center will open at 1 South Prospect Street in Burlington on Oct. 28.

It will be open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and will serve people aged 18 and over.

The center is a collaboration between the Howard Institute, the University of Vermont Medical Center, Pathways Vermont and the Centers for Community Health, with funding from the Vermont Department of Mental Health.

The organizations decided to work together in the summer of 2022, when about 20 people a day are waiting in UVM Medical Center’s emergency room for a psychiatric bed.

“The emergency department as a place of treatment for people with mental health needs is not — it’s not,” said Maureen Leahy, director of psychiatry at UVM Medical Center, during of an informational webinar on Tuesday.

Leahy added that the new mental health center is designed to replace the emergency room. It is designed for people who have mental health problems, but do not need intensive medical or psychiatric care.

The center plans to provide clinical mental health services, peer support, minor medical care, safety planning and assistance with medications. According to Charlotte McCorkle, senior director of client services at the Howard Center.

“This is a walk-in clinic, so people don’t need an appointment or a referral to get services, they can just come and … get the care they need,” McCorkle said. “People will also be able to come back the next day or after their first service to get follow-up care.”

Organizers of the center emphasize accessibility, and how it will be open to people with many illnesses including substance abuse, mental disabilities, traumatic brain injuries and suicidal ideation.

Especially when it comes to suicide prevention, organizers say they are trying to make the center feel as warm and welcoming as possible to reduce the stigma associated with mental health services. .

“We know from research that one reason people delay seeking help for any mental health problem is stigma or fear of how they will react if they admit they are struggling with some way,” McCorkle said.

The new mental health urgent care center will be located in a multi-service building, and anyone who walks in will be referred to as a “visitor.” Staff will also be trained in suicide prevention and care, and can help find next steps.

“When someone is feeling down and like they have nowhere to go, now they will have a place to go that will welcome them,” said Maureen Leahy with UVMMC. “And it’s a good place, and people are trained, and they can start feeling good.”

During Tuesday’s webinar, the center’s organizers made sure to provide wound care.

“A lot of the need for wound care in our community can be related to drug use or it can be related to other health factors,” McCorkle said. “We really want people who need wound care to access the service, and then we can help them with other supports.”

To meet the needs of immigrants and refugees and people of color, the acute mental health care center will provide language interpretation, hire a racially diverse staff who are open about their mental health issues, and providing staff training on unconscious bias and cultural condescension.

Organizers say they are building an organization around the people who will use their services – and that they will continue to reach out to disadvantaged communities to learn what they need.

“If that means we have to turn around in three months or six months to make an operational change that will get the environment or the workforce ready to serve this community, we will do that,” Leahy said. said. “This is, I believe, a repetitive process.”

When an urgent care mental health center opens in Burlington, it will be Vermont’s first. The other three are in Northeast Kingdom and Addison and Washington counties.

Here are some resources if you or someone you know is thinking about suicide:

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