Covenant Children’s announces new outpatient mental health facility

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Covenant Children’s and Texas Tech Physicians will open a new facility at Covenant Children’s in the Spring of 2023, focusing on outpatient mental health.

Dr. Wakefield, TTUHSC Department of Psychiatry Chair says, “One in three children will qualify for a mental health diagnosis every year. There is almost nothing else that affects our children as much as mental distress does.”

She says Lubbock’s mental health care cannot keep up with that rate. One part of the solution is Covenant’s upcoming Relational Health Center.

“This is adding to the continuum of services that children and families need that many children and families have in other regions but we are bringing those services to West Texas,” said Wakefield.

The specialists at this center will evaluate children’s mental health development before bigger issues arise. Dr. Wakefield says many mental health issues in adolescents stem from family systems, and that is what physicians will focus on.

“If we are not treating the family we are not doing the bulk of the work right. We want to help families build skills,” he said.

Dr. Amy Thompson, CEO of Covenant Children’s, says that is what makes this center unique, she says that health care usually only focuses on the physical needs of the patient. In addition, she says partnering with Texas Tech Physicians will provide learning opportunities for students.

“We are going to look at using physiology students, mental health counselors, and social workers. We are trying to put those departments and those things together to be able to provide this service.”

The new outpatient relational health center is in the first phase of development and is set to begin seeing patients in the Spring of 2023.

Copyright 2022 KCBD. All rights reserved.