New Behavior Health Clinic Looks to Bridge Gap for Crisis Response
DULUTH, Minn. — A new behavior health care center is set to open near Downtown Duluth next week.
During Tuesday’s public safety meeting, members of the Human Development Center opened the presser stressing the need for mental health support. A new Urgent Care Behavioral Health Clinic will open up on Monday with a dedicated space meant to de-escalate and service people who are having a mental or behavioral health crisis.
The clinic will also be out in the community with case workers connecting and familiarizing themselves with those currently unhoused or at risk of homelessness.
Case workers will take over some mental health crisis calls from the Duluth Police Department to alleviate tension from those experiencing a mental health crisis.
Case workers will also work alongside the Duluth Police Department in certain cases, like in those when a crisis patient might have a dangerous weapon.
“We rely on the Duluth Police Department by basically using them to ensure our safety,” said Michael Furo, the crisis response director for the Human Development Center. “Our response team is meant to de-escalate all situations. We don’t have any weapons, we don’t use any force and all of our services are voluntary. So that means when our team goes out to work with the client, we need to know how is it safe for them to be out there with the weapons involved? If there are, then we need the police department to come in and clear the scene and verify that we can walk in and be safe to do our job.”
The clinic will also work with other community partners to help people cope with substance use disorders.
They also look to supply a community children’s dental service to provide dental services to those unable to receive care elsewhere.
The Urgent Care Behavioral Health Clinic also has their own crisis response hotline, 844-772-4724, that they urge community members to use instead of 988.
“But the reason that this 844 Number is preferred is because 988 the dispatch center doesn’t have geolocation services, which means that they don’t know where my cell phone is located, which means it could be from anywhere. So, our dispatch service uses area codes to locate a person or the 90 that uses area codes to locate where a person might be. And so, if you are on vacation here or if your cell phone is from outside of our area, you call 988. You’re gonna get a crisis response team that’s not local, and those calls aren’t transferable.”
The Urgent Care Behavioral Health Clinic will open on E 4th Street July 22. Their crisis hotline will service St. Louis, Carlton, Cook, and Lake counties.
