>>Craig Yabuki Mental Health Walk-In Clinic has treated nearly 1,000 children in first year

It’s a clinic unlike any other on the Children’s Wisconsin hospital campus. There are no needles, no shots, no X-rays or prescriptions for medication.

Yet since the Craig Yabuki Mental Health Walk-In Clinic opened its doors one year ago Wednesday, nearly 1,000 children and teenagers ages 5 to 18 have received care by staff using two seemingly simple tools − talking and listening.

The clinic is the first of its kind in the state, offering children and teens who are experiencing a mental health crisis the immediate ability to meet with a social worker or licensed mental health therapist. No appointment is necessary.

The clinic’s operation couldn’t be more timely. Doctors across the state are seeing a rise in children with mental health issues, intense behavioral problems and suicidal ideation and attempts.

Over the past year, clinic staff has provided crisis care for 917 children and teens, accounting for 972 total visits, according to a hospital and clinic spokesperson. Trauma and other stressors, and anxiety, were the reasons for 566 of the visits, with a return to full-time, in-person learning driving those issues, said Tammy Makhlouf, a licensed clinical professional counselor and the clinic’s manager.

Makhlouf said clinician staff are seeing many students coming in straight from school with school avoidance issues and panic attacks.

“With the younger kids, I think it is adjusting to school. They’ve been home for two years and now they are in an environment they’re not used to,” Makhlouf said. “Depending on the age, there are social skills that haven’t been developed because of isolation.”

What defines a crisis varies from family to family.

“We don’t decide what the crisis is,” Makhlouf said. “The family decides what the crisis is. And no crisis is too big or too small.”

A child should be seen at the clinic if they experience new or worsening symptoms of:

• Anxiety, stress or a panic attack
• Trouble focusing
• Loss of appetite or feelings of isolation
• Mood disorders
• Hyperactivity or attention issues
• Lack of interest in family or social activities
• Bullying
• Difficulty sleeping
• School avoidance

Dominique Alvarado of Milwaukee decided her then 6-year-old son Zaylyn was experiencing a crisis last summer. He was complaining of frequent stomach aches, was “overly jittery,” and was nervous much of the time.

“I know anxiety looks different for everybody,” Alvarado said. “I thought these underlying symptoms were a sign of something bigger.”

She was right. While the pandemic has proven problematic for many, Zaylyn readjusted to full days back in school just fine, Alvarado said. It was a family situation that was difficult for Zaylyn to understand. The situation was causing him anxiety.

“He was so nervous, so scared,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen if we don’t treat this immediately.'”

She remembers having heard about the mental health walk-in clinic opening. A quick internet search got her to the clinic, located at the Children’s Wisconsin campus. It was a Friday evening when she and her son first met with a therapist. Zaylyn was asked to draw how he felt.

Initially he was scared, Alvarado said. He didn’t know the clinicians. But now he knows he is just going to talk to someone “about his feeling,” she said.

“If your child was feeling something physically or you felt like something was physically off, you would not hesitate to walk into urgent care or call your primary care doctor and ask, ‘What should we do?'” Alvarado said. “So it shouldn’t be different for mental health, especially when the services are right here.”

Makhlouf said a child who is actively suicidal, has overdosed, has self-harmed and needs medical care, or is in an altered mental state, should be taken to an emergency department. The walk-in clinic is staffed with mental health professionals, not medical professionals.

The clinic is named in memory of Craig Yabuki, who died by suicide in 2017. The Yabuki Family Foundation subsequently donated $20 million to help Children’s Wisconsin more effectively provide mental and behavioral health care, including hiring mental health providers for all of Children’s Wisconsin primary care offices and urgent care clinics.

What days and hours is the clinic open?

3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week, excluding some major holidays.

What services are provided at the clinic?

• Evaluation to determine any immediate safety concerns
• Brief intervention through temporary, on-site counseling and coping tips
• Coordination of care with the child’s existing care team (pediatrician, school or other providers) to ensure everyone is aware of the child’s needs
• Referrals to helpful resources following the child’s clinic visit, including follow-up care, if needed

Resources

• If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
• HOPELINE: For emotional support, text “Hopeline” to 741-741
• Milwaukee County 24-hour crisis line: 414-257-7222. When needed, a mobile team can meet adults and adolescents anywhere to talk and connect them to resources.
• Milwaukee Coalition for Children’s Mental Health: Find resources for mental health support, assistance with other basic needs, and tips for helping children cope with life during the pandemic at mkekids.org.
• Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health: Find resources for accessing health care, hotlines, peer support, child care and more at children.wi.gov.

Jessica Van Egeren is the enterprise health reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at jvanegeren@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Children’s Wisconsin walk-in mental health clinic marks anniversary