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For anyone who walked into Naval Hospital Bremerton’s Mental Health Clinic Open House, they just experienced the same process anyone can do for requesting help.
Psychologists, psychiatrists, hospital corpsmen with behavioral health specialty training and others – including Naval Base Kitsap Fleet and Family Support Center - were readily available Sept. 17, 2024, to discuss the range of offered mental health services for active duty, retirees and dependents.
According to numerous Mental Health Clinic staff, those seeking services have a number of available ways, including on an individual basis.
“Self-referral is always an option. You don’t need to go to your provider, primary care manager, doc, independent duty corpsman. You can call or come in. We will get to you right away,” stressed Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Ryan Weber, behavioral health technician.
“Where do we start to explain there’s so many ways to get the care when needed, especially with the Brandon Act [a law enacted in May 2023 by the Department of Defense specifically designed to create a self-initiated referral process for servicemembers] seeking a mental health evaluation,” stated Lt. Cmdr. Trinity Dunham, Mental Health Clinic division officer. “If someone needs care, they will get it. They can come to us, and we will see them with same day service. If their command or ship’s doc sends them to us, we will see them as soon as they get to us. If anyone thinks they need help, they can come to us, and we will get them the care they need.”
Along with walk-in services, there is also the 988 crisis clinic, walk-in clinic, provider referral process, and consultation services availability by Mental Health provider 24 hours day, seven days a week. As an example, Mental Health Clinic walk-in hours on Thursdays, from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. provide the opportunity for someone to ask questions, request consultation, establish a connection to care, seek support and get resources for mental health care needs.
“We offer a streamline process to try and ensure no one slips through the cracks and everyone gets the care they need. The more we offer, the better,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Matthew North, behavioral health technician.
Current group services offered were on display which include such options as the Resiliency course, where group members learn cognitive behavioral skills to help process and adapt to new situations, leading to a greater capacity to recover from difficulties and bolster resiliency when dealing with stressful situations.
Anger Management is a cognitive-behavior group treatment class designed to increase skills with emergency anger control, as well as understand anger, grasp the cost of anger, recognize distorted anger, and more.
Mental Health 101 is a 10-week group course which addresses focused topics of issues and share coping skills, behavioral and cognitive tools to use for a variety of career, relationship and social situations.
NHB also provides individual psychotherapy and operational and readiness-related psychological evaluations for Sailors, Marines and Coast Guard for tenet commands in the Pacific Northwest and along the West Coast as far as Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.
NHB’s Mental Health provided over 2,230 adult psychiatry visits last year alone, along with approximately 7,200 adult psychology visits, and cared for more than 4,550 Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation Program patients and 150 Tobacco Cessation program patients.
Mental Health Clinic behavioral health technicians continue to carry out a high level of clinical involvement, characterized in 2023 by their engagement in 198 safety checks, 1,092 access-to-care appointments, and 130 group therapy sessions as well as individual patient follow-up care.
The Mental Health Clinic team were sought out by Navy fleet assets for worldwide operational support on USS Nimitz (CVN 68) with a psychologist and BHTs. The department also provided crucial and timely support for two Special Psychiatric Response Intervention missions, providing short-term mental health care on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and Naval Base Kitsap shortly after traumatic events with the goal of preventing long-term psychiatric dysfunction and promoting maximum psychological readiness.
Resources for a crisis include calling 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, also at 800-273-8255/TTY (teletypewriter) 1-800-799-4889/chat at www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org and the Veterans/Military Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255, press 1, or text 838255, chat at www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help/hotline or the Crisis Text Line, text ‘Hello’ to 741741 or visit at www.crisistextline.org or the Trans Lifeline with crisis support for LGBTQ individuals by calling U.S. 877-565-8860 or Canada 877-330-6366 or visit https://translifeline.org
NHB’s Mental Health Clinic can be reached at 360-475-4219.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2024 13:30 |
| Story ID: | 481201 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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