Community Mental Health Center

A community mental health center is a publicly funded or low-cost mental health service that offers multidisciplinary care for people with serious and persistent mental illness, including severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and problematic substance use. Most public healthcare systems around the world operate some version of this kind of clinic, often under different names, though the underlying model — team-based, sliding-scale or free care outside the private insurance system — is similar.

Services commonly available at a community mental health center include: psychiatric evaluation and medication management, individual and group therapy, case management and social work support, and — in some centers — 24-hour crisis services or short-term crisis beds. Some centers also run programs specifically for children and adolescents, and separate tracks for substance use disorders.

At a community mental health center, a person with severe depression can typically access: psychiatric consultations, ongoing therapy, nursing and social-work support, therapeutic groups, and medication follow-up — usually at little or no direct cost. Access is often coordinated through a referral from a primary care clinic, though many centers also accept walk-ins.

To find the nearest one: search for "community mental health center" plus your city or region, or ask your primary care clinic for a referral.