Tioga County Mental Health Clinic of Owego, N.Y. is now offering a new service known as “Open Access”; an initiative that started on Nov. 1, 2015 after Tioga County was awarded funding from New York State Office of Mental Health as part of the Vital Access Provider Program. The hope is that this new service will cut down on appointment cancellations and decrease the number of no shows for scheduled appointments at the clinic, while at the same time eliminating any barriers that might prevent clients from getting needed services in a timely fashion.
Tioga County Mental Health serves residents of Tioga County by providing outpatient mental health services such as Comprehensive Mental Health Assessments, Psychiatric Evaluations, Psychiatric Medication Management Services, Individual, and Family and Group Therapy.
While the clinic continues to offer all of these services by appointment, Open Access now offers clients the ability to be seen “on demand” for any non-medical mental health service on a first come first serve basis. The goal is to eliminate any barriers for clients to access mental health services, whether it is unreliable transportation, childcare issues, or chaotic work schedules.
Clients simply present to the Owego Clinic and request to be seen by the Open Access provider. While there may be some waiting that day, clients will be seen on the day they present, should they choose to stay.
Some clients are interested in having a full comprehensive assessment, while others just need to “talk”. Most commonly, the clinic is seeing clients present for assessments, which are a fairly lengthy process. However, by offering the ability to be seen “on demand”, the belief is that clients will be more likely to stay engaged and follow through with the treatment.
Additionally, the clinic continues to offer 24-hour crisis coverage for clients experiencing a mental health emergency via phone or walk-in. Clients can walk into the clinic Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to see a crisis worker in person, or can call on the phone to speak to someone by calling the clinic at (607) 687-4000 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or by calling the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department at 687-1010 after hours and weekends and requesting to speak to the on-call crisis worker.
Currently the clinic has one Open Access social worker that sees clients between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The goal for 2016 will be to have two full time Open Access social workers on staff to serve clients, and to expand the available hours. The social workers do not currently carry a caseload, and do not schedule any appointments at this time.
For more information, contact Tioga County Mental Hygiene by calling (607) 687-4000 or visit tiogacountyny.com/departments/mental-hygiene/.
