Halifax mental health walk-in clinic project forced to close due to lack of funding

Mental health walk-in clinics in Halifax will be closing their doors this week.

According to the North End Community Health Centre (NECHC), the Pause: Mental Health Walk-in Pilot Project was unable to secure funding past the pilot project phase.

The project aimed to help those with mental health issues from marginalized communities who were unable to wait lengthy periods for care.

“Over the past eight months we treated individuals with issues that ranged from trauma, anxiety and depression, to grief and the experience of social injustice,” North End Community Health Centre social worker Megan MacBride said in a news release.

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“This program allowed those in need to seek appropriate support right in their community. Patients told us that a session at Pause prevented them from seeking emergency support, either through the emergency room or Mobile Crisis.”

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The program received $27,000 from the province’s Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage through the Building Vibrant Communities Grant. It offered drop-in programs Tuesday nights at the NECHC on Gottingen Street and Thursday night at the Chebucto Family Centre in Spryfield.

In a statement, NECHC executive director Marie-France LeBlanc says the centre is currently looking at other ways to fund the program.

“From our perspective this clinic has been very successful,” she stated. “It provided much needed mental health support programming to low-income communities in HRM.”

Counsellors will see their last patients at both locations this week.