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How do you seek mental health care in South Arkansas?

The Banner-News sat down recently with Jennifer Eley, licensed professional counselor and chief clinical officer at Newhaven, to learn about mental health resources available locally.

“We see a lot of substance abuse depression. There’s some serious mental illness, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia things like that, but we see a lot of what we would call the walking wounded, your normal people with anxiety and depression and adolescents who have issues with bullying and low self-esteem. The world we live in is really awful,” said Eley.

Eley said that there is a lot of stigma around mental health issues and counseling that society as a whole needs to work to get rid of.

“Everyone needs someone to talk to. None of us are perfect. This isn’t the crazy place. This is a place where there’s support and there’s hope. If you come here or to any other mental health counseling place and you don’t like who you’re with; ask for someone else. Not every counselor is for every client. You and I may not work well together, but you and another counselor will. I may not have the skills or the experience to help you with your specific problem but I know that one of our other counselors can,” said Eley. “Look at counseling as a place where someone’s going to listen to me, someone’s going to hear me, and care about me and they can’t tell anybody anything else. Do it for yourself so that you’re not alone and carrying all of that this world has to throw at us all by yourself.”

She recommends that friends family and community members encourage individuals struggling to seek help and find someone to talk to even if that is not a professional.

For the average person, Eley says they often use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy where the therapist works to stop behaviors somewhere between it becoming a thought and an action and then get to the root cause to stop negative emotions or thoughts.

“If you know that there is someone who is really struggling you can encourage them to seek help. You can take them yourself to either the hospital or a mental health office. Being that support person and encouraging them and not helping contribute to the problem (is important). If you have issues with suicidal ideations or hopelessness, not wanting to be alive anymore, talk to somebody that you trust. Call 911. There’s the suicide hotline number. That’s 988. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, call it text it, somebody will be there to answer. The same with our office, if you’re in a mental health crisis, you can call our office number, someone’s going to answer the phone,” said Eley.

Newhaven does not do inpatient care , but Eley said if any patient needs that they will work to find an inpatient facility that can take the patient.

She said that although they do not have a physician in the office every day physicians visit the facilities throughout the month and telehealth visits are available and they always have therapists available.

“We have several therapists in all of our offices who provide a variety of therapy types. We have people trained specifically in trauma treatments. We have therapists who work with anyone from the ages of under four to all ages of life. Whatever the problem is, we will find someone to help and if we can’t do it here, we will help find someone that can,” she said.

Newhaven currently has full-time offices in Magnolia, El Dorado and Camden and part-time offices in Fordyce, Hampton and Prescott.

“In our El Dorado office, we have mental health, we have primary care and we have a pharmacy in the same facility. So a person is able to get everything that they need in one spot.We are looking to expand hopefully to Magnolia and possibly Camden with some primary care services in the future. I’m not sure when exactly, that will happen, but it’s in the works. said Eley. “We know that there’s more that goes with mental health than just the mental part, there’s the physical aspects of it too. If we can take care of the whole person then we’re doing a whole lot more good for that person than just dealing with one piece. We also help with substance abuse here in the Magnolia office.”

Eley said that they also can diagnose mental health issues in their El Dorado office and accept adult Medicaid when diagnosing.