CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Amistad Community Health Center is in the process of expanding their mental health resources. They're hoping to provide more telehealth options for people in rural area.
Vanessa Gallegos Griffin is the Director of Behavioral Health at Amistad and a Licensed Professional Counselor. She’s been working to provide mental health services to patients for the past five years.
"Health isn’t just physical," Griffin said. "But how do we take care of ourselves mentally and emotionally and then just building some intelligence in that aspect.”
She sees close to three dozen patients a week for behavioral health, but said there’s been a gap in care for those living outside of Corpus Christi.
“We are seeing a need though in those areas so we’re trying to make ourselves available," Griffin added. "Transportation and also just gas money is the main reason many of them can't get the services or come all the way out here. Like I said, making them come all the way to us, we’re going to try to be available to them.”
Currently, they have several licensed counselors, one psychiatrist, and one mental health nurse practitioner that are split between four locations: Corpus Christi, Robstown, Aransas Pass, and Gloria Hicks Elementary.
With one in five adults in Texas in need of mental health services, they’re hoping to hire more trained professionals.
“To be able to be out in the community and do the work that we’re here to do that we so passionate about, we want to help people." Griffin said.
She and her team are hoping to collaborate with other providers and extend their telehealth expansion by the beginning of 2025.
Amistad offers several options, including individual psychotherapy, mood and anxiety disorder treatment, medication management, psychiatric evaluations, group psychotherapy, mental health workshop for teens, substance abuse recovery groups and medication assistance therapy.
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