A Halifax health centre is rolling out its own approach to tackling mental health wait times in Nova Scotia.
The North End Community Health Centre recently launched a mental health walk-in clinic with the goal of helping people with immediate issues that can be improved in a single therapy session.
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“In Nova Scotia, there’s quite a high demand for mental health care,” Megan MacBride, a social worker at the North End Community Health Centre, told Global News Morning on Thursday.
“Offering different solutions like our pilot project is just one way of finding out what works best in the community.”
MacBride says the clinic operates on Tuesdays from 5 p.m., to 9 p.m., at the North End Community Health Centre at 2131 Gottingen St.
It’s a first come, first served clinic where patients normally get a 40-minute session with the clinician.
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MacBride says there’s no expectation that a patient will come back but that they are welcome to do so if they need to.
The clinic has been busy, MacBride said, seeing roughly 20 people the three times they’ve held the clinic.
“We really want to be that kind of first step for people.”