- April 18, 2024
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Joe Mullins, county commissioner and leader of the Opioid Task Force. Photos by Brian McMillan
Cmdr. Jennifer Taylor, of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. Photos by Brian McMillan
Charles Silano, pastor of Grace Tabernacle Ministries. Photos by Brian McMillan
A drop-in clinic for anyone who needs mental health counseling — the first clinic of its kind in Flagler County — is coming to State Road 100. County Commissioner Joe Mullins made the announcement Jan. 19 at the Opioid Task Force meeting, calling the drop-in clinic a “beginning” in the effort to close what he called a 15-year gap in the county’s mental health services.
Mullins said it would be created in an existing building on 100, but he wasn’t at liberty to disclose the exact location, other than to say that it would not be in the beleaguered Sheriff’s Operations Center.
The clinic would be operated by Bunnell's Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare, County Administrator Jerry Cameron said in a later interview with the Palm Coast Observer.
“It would be set up like a home,” he said. “There would be some rooms for individual therapy, a living room, den. There can be movies, games, there could be crafts, activities.”
Cameron learned of the concept when he was working for St. Johns County, in his previous post before being hired by Flagler County.
“It was pretty phenomenal,” he recalled. “I dropped by there [at the St. Johns clinic] to see the patients, and they all had very positive outlooks on life, and that’s different than most of the mental health cases that are going into an acute phase.”
The county’s contribution would be to remodel the property and offer maintenance.
“My goal has been to bring services here to help with mental health,” Mullins told the Opioid Task Force. “We’re going to start our battle on mental health and suicide.”
