Rhode Island Free Clinic: Patients: Mental Health

Rhode Island Free Clinic: Our Patients

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Mental Health Clinic
Rhode Island Free Clinic is one of the few free clinics in the country that screens and cares for mental health issues. It is also one of the few places where general physicians and mental health providers work in tandem in the same practice setting--where primary care includes basic services for detecting mental as well as physical illnesses.

Every Tuesday and Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, primary care physicians and psych specialty nurses all work together to see and evaluate patients. Everyone who comes to the clinic completes a self-assessment questionnaire (called a PHQ9) that’s designed to screen for problems like depression and anxiety. Based on questionnaire results, and the recommendation of your primary care physician at the Free Clinic, you may be referred to a mental health provider for the appropriate medical attention.

Cody K
Patient since May 2004

Age 50
Manages property, depression, headaches, diabetes, chronic back pain, and having no health insurance

Cody was doing fine until he hurt himself badly enough to be out of work for an extended period of time. Then the depression set in: no health insurance, no income to pay for an MRI to diagnose and inform treatment of the back pain. Things looked pretty hopeless to Cody by the time he made his first visit to the Free Clinic. According to him, just our willingness to help him obtain testing turned his spirits around; starting treatment has made Cody a new person.