Cortland County Mental Health Department Opens On Port Watson Street

Lily Byrne, X101 News:

The Cortland County Mental Health Department opened Monday at 111 Port Watson Street, closing officially for only one day during the transition, said Director of Community Services Patricia Schapp.

The former facility didn’t have enough room for all of the clinicians, she said.

“We had to office-share, so at any given time, one clinician was remote while the other was in-house,” Schapp said. “This allows more people on-site, and also offers us more group rooms.”

There are currently three vacancies for clinicians. Once more are hired, the department hopes to expand group therapy options.

“The community is telling us what the needs are, and we want to meet them,” Schapp said. “We’re hearing anxiety, grief and eating disorders. We don’t have anything set at this point… Groupwork has such benefits, because you learn from each other. We’re humans, so your experience is going to help me understand mine or help shape some things. It’s so helpful to just be with people.”

If the new clinicians hired are passionate or specialize in something, hopefully, they can pursue a group session of it at the facility, said Confidential Administrative Assistant Gale Spitzer.

The new facility also offers an Open Access model Telehealth room, which wasn’t possible at the previous building.

“If you walk in and you say ‘I want therapy, I’m ready for therapy,’ we’re gonna say ‘Yup, we’re gonna set you up for an intake right now,’” Schapp said. “At any given time, we have some clinicians that are working Telehealth, and some that are onsite, so if the clinician that has availability is working remotely, we’d set them up here, get them all situated, and we’d do a remote session.”

Clients of the Cortland County Mental Health Department have shared their thoughts about the new facility, saying:

-”The lights are so bright, I love it.”
-”The floor looks so expensive and I feel special.”
-”You got a chair I can fit in comfortably, thank you.”
-”I love being able to see the buses and taxis so easily.”
-”I can’t believe this is ours.”

The new reception area also has additional safety measures than the last one. Also, this facility allows them to have a meeting room just for staff, and for all three members of the accounting department to have their own offices.

“They used to all share one office,” Spitzer said. “Fortunately, they all get along, but that could have been difficult.”

“Eventually, we will have a waiting area for kids as well, so kids can have a safe space where they feel comfortable,” Schapp said. “We’re hoping to have that up and running within the next week.”

The department is also partnering with the local school district, to have art from the art students on rotation.