SSM Health will open the first behavioral health urgent care clinic in St. Louis next week on South Grand Boulevard, officials announced Monday.
The facility, based at the former emergency department at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, will operate like one of the dozens of no-appointment-needed urgent care centers around the region. But instead of conducting flu tests and treating skin infections, health workers will treat patients with depression, bipolar, addiction and other mental health issues.
“For the last 10 years, we’ve been living as a nation in mental health crisis,” said Dr. Erick Messias, SSM’s chief medical officer for behavioral health in the St. Louis region. “These crises have been overwhelming the emergency rooms to the point that some emergency rooms are creating separate areas, just for psychiatry and just for mental health.”
He noted that suicide rates in the United States have increased dramatically in the past two decades.
The facility will offer a place for those in a mental health crisis to drop in and be seen by a professional the same day. Workers at the center — from SSM, the nonprofit Places for People and the newly formed St. Louis Behavioral Health Bureau — will be able to assess, treat and medicate patients.
The center will treat people with depression, grief, psychosis and addiction, Messias said.
Later, SSM officials plan to add pediatric mental health urgent care when they hire a child psychiatrist.
SSM Health opened the only other behavioral health urgent care center in the region, at DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton, in 2020.
In some cases, a patient may be admitted to nearby St. Louis University Hospital or other health system, Messias said, though he doesn’t anticipate that happening often.
“Most of the time, people need somebody to talk to, somebody to do an assessment, somebody to get them started on their treatment, and somebody to point them in the right direction,” he said. “We can do all of that here.”
Around 20 staff members will work at the clinic each week, SSM spokesman Sam Cosner said. That includes intake workers, community support specialists who make sure patients get to future appointments, peer support specialists, a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist and a nurse practitioner.
The center also will offer appointments for patients with bipolar, schizophrenia and other disorders who need injections of long-term medications.
City officials said they hope the new center will fill a hole for accessible health care in the city’s center.
“We all know, behavioral health crises don't happen on a schedule. Our residents need a place to go immediately in their most vulnerable moments,” said Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, St. Louis' health director. “The new clinic is “a perfect, perfect example of the authentic cross sector relationships being built, being built right here in St Louis to provide equitable, accessible behavioral health services.”
Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier of the 7th Ward said the need for accessible health care is one of the primary concerns of her constituents.
She said the new clinic’s location is not far from the now-closed St. Alexius Hospital on Jefferson Avenue.
“What I actually hear the most from business owners is that they're asking for additional mental health services,” Sonnier said. “They’re having regular encounters with folks who are having substance use issues or mental health issues.”
Messias said the urgent care center is the first step. Follow-up care will be important, and officials hope to soon add a long-term outpatient clinic close to the newly opened location.
