This Miami-area ‘living room’ is offering mental health support. Take a look inside
A new communal living room is now open in Miami to help adults get through a mild mental health crisis and offer a comfortable place to unwind from daily stress, learn coping skills and get free support.
The center expands on the services New Horizons Community Mental Health Center has offered people in South Florida for decades. Mental health advocates who spoke during the center’s grand opening this week, during the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, said New Horizon is the first to offer the Living Room model in South Florida.
The new center, 1469 NW 36th St., near Miami Jackson Senior High School in Allapattah, doesn’t look like a clinic or hospital. It looks like, well, your living room.
What’s inside?
Recliners, tables, a TV showing nature scenes. A quiet room for those who want to be alone. Trained workers, including a therapist and peer support counselors available to help unpack emotions, teach de-escalation and coping techniques, and help create a safety plan for the next time you feel overwhelmed, said New Horizons CEO Michele Wyatt-Sweeting.
“What’s unique about The Living Room is that we are at that very beginning part of the spectrum for crisis services,” Wyatt-Sweeting told the Miami Herald.
The country is in a growing mental health crisis, which U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says is largely fueled by loneliness. Children and adults have overwhelmed hospital ERs for care. There’s not enough mental health providers. And some crisis stabilization units have closed across Florida, making it harder for people to find help for depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, Wyatt-Sweeting said.
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The CEO said The Living Room is an alternative to hospitalization for those not considered to be a risk to themselves or others, and will increase access to care while also helping hospitals keep beds open for those with more severe illness.
The communal Living Room is open around the clock for those 18 and older, whether or not they have insurance.
Take a look inside:
How Miami’s Living Room offers mental health support
Visitors will undergo a screening at the entrance before they can enter the communal living room. They will be asked for an ID, but not required to give one, said Nusrat Karim, director of The Living Room. While this allows for some anonymity, visitors must still fill out consent forms to use The Living Room’s services.
People can stay up to 23 hours each visit.
Once in the living room, visitors can relax on a recliner. Headphones and sleep masks are available for those who want to sit back and listen to music, Wyatt-Sweeting said. You can speak with others or keep to yourself. The kitchen is stocked with water and healthy snacks. Board games are coming soon.
There’s also a quiet room with a lone recliner for those who need some “me time” to decompress. People can use this room for up to one hour during their visit.
“My hope for The Living Room and the people who access our service is that they’re able to come here, where they’re welcomed, they’re accepted, and they have this comfortable and relaxing place to resolve their crisis,” Karim said.
Free talk therapy will also be available around the clock at the center, either with an in-person therapist or via telehealth, to help people process their emotions and learn de-scalation techniques and coping skills, Karim said. Trained peer support counselors, who have also experienced a mental health crisis, will be on hand.
Other services include help with medication management and referrals to other community resources.
The bottom line
New Horizons Community Health Center had wanted to open The Living Room for years. The COVID-19 pandemic, which simultaneously fueled and unmasked the country’s mental health crisis, helped lead to funding from Thriving Mind South Florida, an organization that funds mental health services in South Florida, and from Florida’s Department of Children and Families.
Supporters of New Horizon’s initiative say the goal is to help people get the care they need before their mental health deteriorates enough to need hospitalization.
‘It’s really part of a whole continuum of care that was missing in our region,” said John Newcomer, president and CEO of Thriving Mind South Florida.
If you go to The Living Room
What: The Living Room
Where: 1469 NW 36th St.
For Who: The Living Room offers mental health support for people experiencing mild mental health crisis.
Hours of operation: The Living Room is open around the clock year-round.
More information: To learn more about The Living Room and other services offered by New Horizon, visit newhorizonscmhc.org/
If you or someone you know is thinking about self-harm, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988. It’s available 24/7.
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