Pediatric Behavioral Health Services Now Available at Five Urgent Care Locations

Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health is now offering behavioral health care at five urgent care locations across New Jersey. The urgent care behavioral health clinics — located in Clark, Freehold, Eatontown, Lincoln Park, and Neptune City — offer walk-in behavioral health care for children ages five and older. During the visit, clinic team members connect children with a child psychiatrist for a telepsychiatry evaluation.

“It can be challenging to know where to go when a child or teen is experiencing a mental health issue,” said Stacy Doumas, M.D., MBA, chair of Psychiatry, Southern Region, Hackensack Meridian Health, and chair, Department of Psychiatry, Jersey Shore University Medical Center. “Our urgent care centers are designed to care for children and teens who are having a mental health issue, such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, insomnia, or substance abuse, that does not present an immediate safety risk.”

Dr. Doumas stressed that the Emergency Department, and not Urgent Care, is the best place for children who are suicidal or who are behaving erratically, violently, or aggressively.

Using on-site telehealth services, urgent care clinics are equipped to connect children and loved ones with a behavioral health expert who can provide a range of services, including:

• School clearance letters when there are no immediate safety risks.
• Pediatric and adolescent expert psychiatric evaluations and treatment.
• Prescription refills.
• Crisis intervention.
• Expediting the follow-up process with a long-term psychiatric team.
• Medication initiation or adjustment.

“Our goal is to evaluate the patient, address concerns, provide treatment, and recommend an appropriate level of follow-up care, whether it be an appointment with a behavioral health professional or hospital care,” said Dr. Doumas.