Morehouse School of Medicine and Families First Join Forces to Deliver Accessible Mental Health Care for Youth
New child and adolescent psychiatry clinic serves patients up to age 21 on Atlanta’s West Side.
By Allison Joyner, The Atlanta Voice
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in seven 10- to 19-year-olds experience a mental disorder, including depression and anxiety, with suicide being the fourth leading cause of death for 15- to 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 and MSM will provide culturally and structurally informed child and adolescent psychiatric care that aligns with the historically Black medical school’s mission of reversing social determinants of health that are high and the availability of services is low.
“Partnering with MSM gives us a little more bang for our buck,” said Chris Haider-Bardill, clinical director for Families First.
Medicaid recipients don’t have to wait weeks or months for an appointment. As a core provider, Families First can bill the health care provider for services.
Before the global pandemic began in 2020, there was a stigma in the African American community in terms of going to a psychiatrist. Now Moody says that stigma is slowly going away.
“Kids are social creatures, and one of the huge challenges with the pandemic was essentially isolation,” Moody said. “The services that we’re providing here are in person, and we’re able to interact with a child rather than through a virtual little window.”
She added that she is proud of the progress that has been made in the Black community to address mental illness and mental health and acknowledges that help is a good thing.
To make an appointment with a psychiatric physician, call Families First at (404)853-2800 or email counseling@familiesfirst.org.
“When you come to Families First for behavioral health and comprehensive behavioral health services, you will work with people who are accessible, empathetic, nonjudgmental, and caring,” Haider-Bardill said.