A clinic that offers mental health care and treatment for substance use disorders on San Antonio’s West Side — for free — marks a year of serving the community with an official grand opening.
The Paul Elizondo Adult Behavioral Health Clinic is the result of a $23 million renovation of what once was a shelter, and over the last year it’s served more than 5,000 patients.
This clinic is one of three outpatient clinics run by the Center for Health Care Services. Jaunita Rodriguez is the Vice President for Adult Behavioral Health for CHCS, and she thinks this facility's location on the West Side makes it easily accessible to anyone in the county, but it is particularly well placed for those who live at Haven for Hope.
“We are within walking distance, so they can easily make that trek from the Haven for Hope campus to our location to access services,” said Rodriguez.
In addition to behavioral health care, this facility offers a variety of wrap-around services to help patients find safe, stable housing and even jobs. CHCS has formed a partnership with several city employers who hire people who have been treated there.
“They’re open to interviewing our patients, getting them job opportunities,” Rodriguez said. “They understand when sometimes our consumers are struggling or having difficulty going to work and they don’t immediately resort to separation, and taking them outside their employment.”
Willy Love is the director of Adult Behavioral Health at the clinic, and he said helping so many people this year has been deeply rewarding for him.
“You see them one day maybe at a place of hopelessness, but then when you just provide a few services to them, our brother is saved, our sister is saved, our friends are saved,” Love said. “So it’s very rewarding to be able to just walk with someone and know their experiences can change.”
The clinic will also be adding primary care medical services this year. They, however, will not be free.
Bonnie Petrie can be reached at Bonnie@TPR.org and on Twitter at @kbonniepetrie.
