Mental health clinic opens second location in eastern Idaho
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IDAHO FALLS – The need for mental health services has drastically increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a local clinic recently opened a second location to increase its ability to serve customers.
Pearl Health Clinic opened Monday, April 19 at 502 South Woodruff in Idaho Falls.
Megan Slusher, the business’s marketing manager, tells EastIdahoNews.com calls have increased 25% since last June and preparations for the new clinic got underway about three months ago.
“We’ve had a few growing pains,” Social Media Contributor Rebekah Tiberend-Hanks says. “We’re bringing on (new) people on all the time to help with that, but the 17th Street location doesn’t quite have the room for it at the moment.”
Counseling services have been the clinic’s most requested offering over the last year, says Tiberend-Hanks.
“People have been in their homes for so long,” she says. “People are having to deal with the long-term effects of that. It’s easy to get really stressed and if that stress becomes long-term, it can make things really hard for people.”
The increased demand for mental health services is also partly driven by greater awareness, which she says has helped “de-stigmatize it” and allowed people to recognize that it’s ok to reach out for help. Idaho’s recent Medicaid expansion is another contributing factor.
In addition to counseling, Pearl Health Clinic offers a variety of psychology and medical services for people of all ages. Some of those include substance abuse and suboxone treatments, an intensive outpatient program for teenagers and community-based rehabilitation services.
“The community programs are pretty popular because they meet you at your home,” Tiberend-Hanks says. “You get stuff from therapy like resources and coping mechanisms. These programs can help you implement those things in real life.”
One specific treatment that’s available is called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, which is an FDA-approved method to treat depression without drugs. It works by placing a magnetic device on your head several times a week in effort to “retrain your neurons to work properly.”
“(It) targets key areas of the brain that are underactive in people with depression,” the company’s website says.
Pearl Health Clinic first opened in 2008 at 2705 East 17th Street in Ammon. The two clinics will continue to operate simultaneously and offer many of the same services.
Tiberend-Hanks says they’re excited for the opportunity to better serve clients in eastern Idaho.
The Idaho Falls clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Ammon location is open the same days with a 6 p.m. closing time.