According to the Work Health Organization (WHO), one in seven 10-19-year-olds experience a mental disorder, including depression and anxiety, with suicide being the fourth leading cause of death for 15-29 year-olds.
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), along with mental health nonprofit Families First, is helping to bring accessible mental health care for young people with its new child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) clinic.
MSM behavioral health clinicians will be available to see patients on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Families First facility on Joseph E. Lowery Blvd, where CAP fellows and psychiatry residents will evaluate and treat mental health conditions in youth up to age 21.
“Our weekly clinic at Families First is open to patients up to the age of 21, who will be evaluated and treated by MSM physicians, as well as fellows and residents in training,” said Dr. Sarah Vinson, Chair of MSM’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics. “Young people who need primary medical care will be referred to our nearby Morehouse Healthcare clinics.”
For over 130 years, Families First has been the state’s longest-running nonprofit. It improves the outcomes for families with complex challenges by helping them strengthen their resiliency.
“Collaboration and partnership are the essence of effective and comprehensive behavioral health services,” said Paula Moody, CEO of Families First. “Responding to the needs of people struggling with mental health challenges can’t be addressed by one agency; it takes a team of organizations to help break the stigma, treat trauma, and provide mental health services to everyone regardless of their circumstances.”
Through the new partnership, Vinson says that Families First First and MSM will provide culturally and structurally informed child and…
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