May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We at Mountain Family Health Centers are committed to reducing the stigma around mental health and treatment.
Community Health Centers and many other community partners play an important role in providing behavioral health care and helping patients find resources available in their community. Mountain Family Health Centers creates unique partnerships to address behavioral health issues in non-traditional ways. Many of our bi-cultural and bi-lingual team members are leading innovations in the way behavioral health disorders are identified and treated—through the integration of medical, dental, and behavioral health services. This integrated approach to care improves the overall value of healthcare and can lead to improvements in patient outcomes, quality of care and total costs.
In the words of Dr. Gary Schreiner, Mountain Family’s Behavioral Health Director,
“Recognizing the strain that COVID has had on all of us, we have created more immediate access to our behavioral health providers. We have made it our goal to have “warm handoffs” whenever possible so patients have access to behavioral health at any appointment, even if they are just here for a medical or dental check-up. We honor that behavioral health is health, period.”
Here are a few ways that YOU can participate and celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month:
- Wear a green ribbon.
- Donate to support behavioral health and be supportive of those with mental health concerns.
- Share your mental health story. Speak up and share your story with friends, family or via social media.
- Take a mental health screening
- Call Mountain Family at 970-945-2840 to schedule an appointment with a behavioral health provider (and also find a primary care provider or dentist).
Mountain Family has nine behavioral health providers and one psychiatric nurse practitioner. For our school-based health centers (SBHCs), we have a provider at our SBHC at Glenwood Springs High School and one at Avon Elementary. Our new therapists are Katie Forman, LCSW at the Glenwood Springs High School and at our Glenwood Springs clinic; Marissa Josub, LSW, now works at our Edwards clinic; and we just hired a new Licensed Professional Counselor who will start June 1 in Rifle.
Thank you for support and awareness.