A collaboration between Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation and Drexel University School of Public Health wants to improve access to behavioral health. The foundation is raising $10,000 on Indiegogo to support what would be the first behavioral health clinic in a retail setting in North Philadelphia. As part of the initiative, nine teams are competing in a design challenge to develop the best way to implement these clinics.
A health clinic within a big box store, the way MinuteClinics sit in CVS Caremark stores to provide non-emergency care, would make a lot of sense. They tend to have a big footprint in many cities. The Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation wants to improve behavioral health delivery in the Philadelphia region.
The design challenge is collaborating with Family Practice and Counseling Network. The company opened a convenient care clinic at the ShopRite supermarket in North Philadelphia called QCare last year. It’s agreed to pilot the winning design at the clinic. The funds raised on Indiegogo will go toward the expansion of the convenient care clinic into mental health.
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Contributors are asked to vote on one of nine design ideas for the clinic. The foundation has said it will match each contribution. The deadline is March 17. Finalists will be named next week and a winner will be chosen in April to implement their idea.
Some of the criteria for submissions rests on whether it would be possible to implement the idea by May, how interventions are measured and the ability to maintain the program.
One design approach envisions behavioral health screenings for QCare customers in English and Spanish through mounted tablets in the waiting area. People would have the option to take a screening, which could be sent by email to their QCare provider. They could also view an interactive educational section with a gaming component to learn more about common behavioral health disorders.
Another idea is to have people “paint a portrait of their mental health” alongside a mental health screening. The idea is to help the person taking part feel that they are in control. Depending on their score on the screening, they would receive information such as links to schedule an appointment with a mental health provider, the location of the nearest mental health clinics, contact information for help centers and a list of simple steps they can undertake in order to feel more in control of their lives. The “digital painting” piece is intended to use digital artwork to help remove the stigma associated with depression.
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About 26 percent of adults will experience a mental health disorder in any given year, regardless of an existing chronic physical condition, and nearly 70 percent will not seek treatment, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control.
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