The holidays can be a joy-filled season, but they also can be stressful and difficult for people dealing with isolation, grief, depression and mental illness. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, walk-in clinics, hotlines and mobile units offer resources for anyone needing immediate mental health help.
In a strip shopping center in Davie, Memorial Healthcare’s Rebel’s Drop-In Center opened in January and has support groups, social activities, counseling and peer mentoring available seven days a week. It’s even open Christmas and New Year’s days.
“There is a lot available here for people feeling depressed or isolated who don’t want to be home alone,” said Maria Pilar Dominguez, manager of Rebel’s Drop-In Center. “There is even peer one-on-one support.”
With the pressure of holiday cheer, Malcolm Butler knows his schizophrenia can easily overwhelm him. So on a cool Tuesday afternoon, he paints a white cat on window sill using small strokes on a canvas.
Like Butler, people from cities across Broward County with varying mental health issues arrive at Rebel’s Drop-In Center to participate in support groups, take part in arts and crafts, join a yoga class or meet with a counselor.
There’s a men’s support group for those in a slump who don’t have custody of their children during the holidays or are deep in grief. There’s a women’s support group for those who have anxiety or feel alone.
More serious help for mental conditions
A back entrance to the same building leads to Memorial Outpatient Behavioral Health Center where anyone 15 or older can walk in and get assessed for mental health care.
“There are people who walk in and need immediate care. We do the intake first, and then set up them with an appointment,” explains Claudia Vicencio, director of Memorial Outpatient Behavioral Health. “Once they get assessed, we would initiate service within five to seven days.”
The center has psychiatrists, mental health counselors and primary care services. It also offers Esketamine treatments and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for depression-resistant adults.
“With the holiday season, we are busier than normal on the clinical side,” Vicencio said. “We are seeing a lot of people walking in.”
But she adds, “This is not for someone in an immediate crisis.”
For children and young adults up to 26, PM Pediatric Behavioral Health in Coral Springs can see a new patient with a mental health concern virtually within 72 hours, even during the holidays. Anyone can make an appointment online.
Holidays cause mental health flare-ups
This time of year, mental health counselors gear up for what is known as the holiday blues, a short-term amplified depression. The larger risk is that depression can lead to addiction. In addition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 64% of people living with a mental illness reported their conditions worsened around the holidays.
Feelings of loneliness may worsen around the holidays, too. Earlier this year the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection. The report says in adults, the risk of developing depression among people who report feeling lonely is more than double those who rarely or never feel lonely.
“This time of year there’s lot of media attention on families getting together, and that heightens the comparison and it heightens loneliness for some people,” said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, and director of the Social Connection and Health Lab at Brigham Young University. Speaking during a SciLine webinar, she noted that anyone can be vulnerable, including young people.
“This is not not unique to older ages … it affects us all, ” she said.
Hotlines offer immediate help
In South Florida, wait times for private therapists and psychiatrists can be weeks or even months. However, anyone feeling isolated or suffering from a mental health concern can call 2-1-1 in Broward and Palm Beach counties and reach a responder who can direct them to services.
‘Our call line is staffed 24 hours with someone who can talk to you so you know you are not alone,” said Francisco Isaza, chief operations officer for 211 Broward. “Consumers call us who just need support that day. Sometimes they will call two or three times that same day. They may be feeling lonely or dealing with grief. The most important thing we are able to do is listen to a person’s story and provide emotional support.”
Isaza said responders may refer the caller to therapy, support groups, telehealth services, mobile crisis units or walk-in centers depending on the situation. “Sometimes just talking to someone who can de-escalate the situation helps that person, and emergency crisis services are never needed,” he said.
Anyone is crisis can get help
Anyone in a mental health crisis or overcome with suicidal thoughts in South Florida has options.
They can walk into Henderson’s Centralized Receiving Center in Lauderhill and get help, said Dr. Steven Ronik, CEO of Henderson Behavioral Health, which has services in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Staff at the walk-in center at 4720 N. State Road 7 can connect a walk-in patient with a therapist, a psychiatrist and other intervention services. They can even check in a patient for up to 23 hours to stabilize them.
“It’s kind of like an urgent care for behavioral health,” Ronik said.
Henderson also has a mobile crisis unit that responds to residents wherever they are when in an emotional or mental health crisis.
“The purpose is to make sure the person is safe and resolve the crisis,” Ronik said. The crisis intervention team does an evaluation on the spot, and if necessary may take the person voluntarily or involuntarily for inpatient hospitalization.
Unless there’s an immediate danger, Ronik advises most people in need to start with a call to 9-8-8, a new mental health and suicide prevention line. Phone calls are answered by local mental health professionals who can talk someone through their distress — or send a mobile crisis unit to their home if they suspect it’s needed.
“I want to emphasize for the public that they don’t have to think about it,” Ronik said. “If they think they’re in trouble, dial those three digits. It gets them started, and the professional who answers can access what else might be needed.”
Of course, anyone in crisis can also go to a hospital emergency department. Not every hospital has a mental health professional on staff. But some do, and those who don’t may transfer the patient to a hospital that does have someone on staff.
Dr. Daniel Bober, chief of psychiatry at Memorial Regional Hospital, sees adults who arrive at the emergency room and present a danger to themselves or others. The hospital also has a youth psychiatrist on staff.
“For a lot of people, the holidays bring up painful things such as addiction, loss, trauma … what they see is an empty seat at the table or a promise not kept, or a dream not realized,” he said. “They may get intoxicated and it brings up suicidal thoughts.”
About half of the people who arrive at the emergency department in crisis are admitted and half go home with a plan of care, Bober estimates. A patient who gets admitted can be held for up to 72 hours. After that, they must sign in as a voluntary admission, he said.
“Often, just time away from the situation itself can be somewhat therapeutic,” Bober said. “They need a place to cool down. Some scenarios may require medication or restraints, and by the next morning, very often the patient can go home.”
Bober said every hospital emergency department must see someone in crisis, but if they don’t have professionals on staff, they will transfer the patients to a hospital that does.
“Western society tell us this is joyous time,” he said. “If you’re in crisis and have to decide what to do, you are better off erring on the side of caution and going to the the ER.”
Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.