SLO County opens new youth behavioral health clinic in Grover Beach. What’s inside?
Children experiencing mental illness, trauma and behavioral health issues have a new place to get help in southern San Luis Obispo County.
Opened Oct. 28 but officially to the public for the first time Friday, Grover Beach’s new Youth Behavioral Health Clinic represents an upgrade in the services provided by the San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health Department administrators and therapists, behavioral health division manager Jill Rietjen said.
Moving from its previous offices on Halcyon Road near Arroyo Grande Community Hospital to its new home at 1666 Ramona Ave., the new youth mental health clinic location allows the county Behavioral Health Department to engage with its mission on a larger scale through expanded office and therapy space, Rietjen said.
“In terms of square footage, I don’t know that it’s larger, but in terms of layout, it’s just much better for the kind of business that we’re doing,” Rietjen said. “The office space is really nice for this kind of mental health clinic.”
Serving more than 800 youth clients from newborns through age 20, the youth mental health clinic only accepts MediCal, making its services available to low-income families that would not otherwise have access to therapy, therapist Nicole Isakson said.
“I would have to say the majority of it is going to be talk therapy, which is pretty much what you expect from therapy, but then we do have play therapy for the younger kids, which can be a different type of an expression,” Isakson said. “They are expressing what’s going on, but kind of more in a fantasy world.”
New space allows for wider range of services
Therapist Nicole Isakson said the expanded office space — including a fully customized room for each therapist — will allow therapists to use more methods to engage with younger clients, who don’t always respond to traditional therapeutic practices.
Many rooms are well-stocked with sandboxes, toys and stuffed animals for play therapy, which can be effective in getting children to express trauma without recalling events head-on, Isakson said.
Therapist Anne Harris described play as “the language of children,” and providing space for young clients to work out their emotions through play can lead to breakthroughs.
Other services at the new facility include a well-stocked family room for group sessions, while other therapists specialize in neurofeedback therapy, a practice that includes monitoring brainwave patterns to identify how and why emotions occur, program manager Christine Hoffman said.
Outside of pure therapeutic uses, the new office includes a spot for a Transitions-Mental Health Association representative who can refer families to other behavioral health resources such as parenting classes, one-on-one support and referrals to other organizations, Hoffman said.
It also provides a spot for the county’s Latino Outreach program, which helps staff reach bilingual and bicultural San Luis Obispo County residents, Hoffman said.
How to get in touch with youth behavioral health clinic
Appointments at the new clinic can be made through San Luis Obispo County’s website, or by calling 805-781-4179.
The new Grover Beach youth behavioral health clinic can be reached at 805-473-7060. Other youth mental health services are available in Atascadero at 5575 Hospital Drive and 805-461-6060, and in San Luis Obispo at Martha’s Place Children’s Center at 2925 McMillan Ave., Suite 108 and 805-781-4948.
