BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A brand new mobile mental health clinic is opening for business.
The van, operated by Bellingham nonprofit Lydia Place, is a spot for comfort, quiet, and confidentiality.
The rolling clinic will travel directly to clients across Whatcom County, providing mental health and drug counseling for those in need. Most of the clients are people trying to escape homelessness.
"It's been kind of a dream of ours for a while," said clinic supervisor Holly Martinsen.
Many of those people have little or no access to transportation. Getting to see a counselor is challenging, at best.
"Trying to meet basic needs on a daily basis creates a lot of stress," Martinsen said.
Martinsen said climbing out of homelessness can be a full-time job.
The stress impacts the whole family.
"If a person has multiple appointments per day to get housing or basic needs met, it's hard to keep all of that in place, while also keeping track of children," Martinsen said. "It does have a tremendous impact on a person's mental health, a family's mental health, children included."
"Our goal is to make sure kids who end up in our services with their families are never homeless again," said Lydia Place's Dejah Lynn Griffin. "So, this is to support them in whatever stability looks like for them, and create opportunities to grow."
The mobile clinic is the latest strategy being deployed in Whatcom County to help end the cycle of addiction, poverty and homelessness. They include a new downtown substation by Bellingham police, a "therapeutic court" designed to get people drug treatment instead of throwing them in jail, an executive order by Bellingham's mayor that toughened the enforcement of drug laws, and a new 300-bed shelter slated to open this fall.
Workers at Lydia Place don't believe there is anything quite like their program in the United States.
They hope the van will help Bellingham, and the entire county, turn a corner.
"To be able to bring this space to our clients, a safe, comfortable, inviting space, this is going to be a huge game changer for us and them," Martinsen said.
Workers at Lydia Place hope other organizations will follow their lead and open more mobile clinics across the country.