Red Lake Comprehensive Health Services Offering Mental Health Crisis Support

Red Lake Comprehensive Health Services has a walk-in mental health clinic which is the first of first of its kind in the area. After first opening a year ago, they held their grand opening just a few weeks ago to get the news about their services out to the public.

Although there are several mental health services and therapists in Red Lake and the surrounding areas, two mental health specialists realized that there needed to be a more immediate destination for people to go to, sparking the creation of the Mino’ayaan walk-in mental health crisis support center.

“I think it fills the gaps in the barriers that we meet in mental health in Indian Country,” said Mino’ayaan Crisis Clinician Shianne Graves. “We can help get people quicker access to resources.”

“When trying to determine coming here, like, ‘what is a crisis?’ It’s so hard to define,” said Mino’ayaan Mental Health Practitioner Tera Nelson. “We really ultimately need people where they’re at for the mental health needs.”

The two specialists have been helping people for over a year now and re-did their building to accommodate their service needs. One important part of doing renovations was to create a nice, welcoming and homey atmosphere so people can feel comfortable from the first time they walk through the door.

“We have all-new siding outside, we have a brand new roof,” Nelson said. “We have brand new – the whole entire inside, which we find very important. When people are in a time of crisis, you want to be as comfortable as you can be.”

The center does not provide therapy, but is meant to help people in crisis situations.

“What it would look like as you would come in, we do our intake, do the crisis assessment, figure out what’s going on and then we do safety planning, and a treatment plan, and we would meet for up to ten sessions,” explained Graves.

“Right now it is just Red Lake community, but we do have people that are not technically, quote unquote ‘enrolled’ or descendants of the Red Lake Band, but still reside in or around Red Lake,” added Nelson. “But we’re really big on inclusivity, and we would not turn anybody away if they didn’t meet that criteria.”

The name, Mino’ayaan, means “be well,” and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“I wanted to be the person that I needed to be when I was younger,” Nelson said. “So if I can be that supportive person, you know, somebody that I needed when I was a teenager or somebody I needed when I was, you know, 18, 20 years old. And it’s so hard to admit that, ‘Hey, maybe I need help,’ but we’re totally here and non-judgmental.”

The crisis support center is open to children and adults of all ages, and people can either call and make an appointment ahead of time or just walk in at any point during business hours. In the future, they will also have a 24-hour “warm line” where people experiencing mental health crises can call in for over-the-phone help.