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Telemental Health Program Expands
A program to improve access to mental health services in Virginia for vulnerable patients expands.
Virginia's lagging access to mental health services is getting a boost with the launch and recent expansion of the Virginia Telemental Health Initiative, a pro bono program
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VTHMI will provide services virtually through a telehealth arrangement to enrolled patients at participating free and charitable clinics. Since launching in January of 2023 with Fauquier Free Clinic, the program has expanded to an additional nine clinics:
- Bradley Free Clinic (Roanoke)
- Brock Hughes Medical Center (Wytheville)
- Charlottesville Free Clinic
- CrossOver Healthcare Ministry (Richmond)
- Free Clinic of Franklin County
- Health Brigade (Richmond)
- Page Free Clinic
- Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic (Tappahannock)
- Shenandoah Community Health Clinic (Woodstock)
“Virginia's network of free and charitable clinics provides an important safety net of holistic health care services to many underserved populations across the Commonwealth who lack health insurance or who are underinsured,” said Rufus Phillips, CEO of VAFCC. “As a VTMHI partner, we are pleased to serve as the critical link between patients and providers in this important work to combat the rising need in behavioral health, helping our free and charitable clinics deliver the kind of mental health services that can change people's lives.”
The program will not only benefit patients in need today, but also aims to set up a broader provider base currently lacking in Virginia. Providers in the first phase are pre-licensed volunteers who have completed their graduate level courses and are completing their clinic licensure requirements. Through this process, these volunteers will be earning supervised clinical hours as well as free training.
For more information about eligibility requirements and how Virginia residents can access mental health services through VTMHI, visit https://virginiatelementalhealth.org/accesscare/.
For more information about VTMHI, visit https://virginiatelementalhealth.org/.