EIRMC’s new intensive outpatient clinic for mental health
There is a new mental health services program at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. EIRMC’s Behavioral Health Center has launched a new Intensive Outpatient Mental Health Services program, and we’re told this will help fill an important need in our area.
Therapists and psychiatrists at EIRMC are providing a safe place for people with mental illnesses. This is for those who have been hospitalized but who are also not quite ready to re-enter the full stresses of their daily lives without support. The program is also for those who need a little extra therapy that may help keep them from becoming hospitalized.
“We wanted to put in an intermediate service so that people who were in need of crisis intervention, coming from an outpatient setting, could be entered into our program and possibly divert the need for a full hospitalization,” said the clinic’s medical director, Dr. Peter Kowalski.
EIRMC says this comes at a great time — when mental health diagnoses are increasing, and the need for transition programs are so high. Furthermore, the clinic will provide up to 10 hours of group and individualized therapy per week. That includes psycho-education, symptom management and skill training. Therapists and psychiatrists are on hand at all times during this transition step.
“When it comes to kind of transitioning outside of the hospital or stepping up, there’s a middle-of-the-road type of service line which we’re offering here that does not exist in this area,” said intensive outpatient coordinator and therapist Nathan Jensen.
“This service can be a step down from the hospital, for someone to come from the hospital and be in the intensive outpatient program to kind of get back to their level of function they need to have. Or it can also be a step up from an outpatient level of care to help prevent them from needing to be in the hospital, ” said the director of operations, Shawn LaPray.
The IOP clinic will treat people with a range of mental health issues. Depression, bipolar disorder PTSD — the clinic will try to provide you or your loved ones with the tools to overcome them. The clinic is already seeing patients. For more information, call 208-227-2555.
