Children's Wisconsin opened a mental health walk-in clinic in Green Bay. The clinic is available Monday through Friday, noon-6:30pm. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Children and families dealing with a mental health crisis no longer need to wait weeks, or even months, to be seen.
Similar to a visit to urgent care for a physical injury or illness, there’s now a place for kids and their loved ones to seek urgent mental health care, too.
Children’s Wisconsin is opening a mental health walk-in clinic in Green Bay. It’s the third in the state, but the first in the Northeast Wisconsin region.
“We’re here to try and fill a gap and to be here same-day for families when they really want to have their kids come in, or their teens come in, for a mental health issue,” said David Whelan, MSW, a behavioral health consultant at Children’s Wisconsin.
In the same building that houses Emplify Health by Bellin Behavioral Health, the walk-in clinic has one therapist currently on staff: Whelan. The clinic opened last Thursday and on Friday, Whelan saw his first patient and their family.
He said, “We try to do a quick assessment and then we try to do some brief interventions, and then the real goal is for the parents and the youth to have a plan for what’s going to happen next.”
At a time when young people realize mental health issues are a more normal part of life, and the stigma associated with it is being removed, more kids and families are seeking help for things like anxiety and depression.
The walk-in clinic is designed to address those immediate needs, and direct families to more long-term care too.
“Often we see kids come in with depression and anxiety, and so what we try and do is provide them with quick coping skills — things they can do to address when they’re feeling anxious or they’re feeling down,” said Whelan.
While the clinic is for kids and teens, the family as a whole leaves with knowledge on how to move forward.
“Kids are with their caregivers every day, and those caregivers really are the ones who need to know what to do to support, and so we really focus on the family,” he added.
Children’s Wisconsin wants people to know the clinic is available and ready to provide any kind of help it can. The clinic is open Monday through Friday from noon to 6:30 p.m.
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