Since April 2017, Wilmington Mental Health has provided easy access to quality care in a convenient location in the port city.

Over the past decade, Wilmington has experienced a population influx and the need to serve minority and underserved individuals has increased. In fact, one in four adults in the area experience a mental health condition each year, but few seek help. We wanted to offer genuine and compassionate support to those afflicted with mental illness in our community.

Our treatment programs are person-centered and specific. Our team includes likeminded providers whose personal experiences and worldviews align with the company’s philosophy. We use evidence-based methods and follow individualized treatment plans to offer solutions to our patients, their families, and their significant others so that they can achieve life balance once again.

To help achieve change, we needed to transform our community’s perception on mental health. We needed to reach the root of the problem and help our field match up with the medical field, and we wanted to do so without necessarily competing with our colleagues and local companies. Instead, we learned from, and began to collaborate with them. We partnered with key local players and connected with important resources to reach out to the community, always conveying the message that our mental health deserves more attention. We found it absurd that people who went to see a counselor were criticized and sometimes made feel ashamed and made it our mission to make ‘talk therapy’ a normal and universal service. We believe that anyone should be able to tell their friends and family members that they are receiving mental health assistance without feeling embarrassed or ashamed, especially during times of crisis and emotional disturbance.

Our next step in making mental health treatment accessible, dependable, and essential was to partner with most insurance companies that offer mental health services. We also contracted with several government agencies to offer treatment to those who cannot afford to pay for mental health services on their own. And not that our health is more widely accepted as having both a physical and mental health dimensions, we developed a platform that provided therapeutic and primary care support to children, teenagers, college students, adults, seniors, couples, and families.

We realized that mental healthcare delivered in an outpatient setting would be more effective and sustainable if complimented by primary healthcare, where patients can receive support from, and be monitored by their counselor and primary care provider1.

1. Funk, M., Saraceno, B., Drew, N., & Faydi, E. (2008). Integrating mental health into primary healthcare. Mental health in family medicine, 5(1), 5–8.

Mental illness often co-occur with many health problems such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and tuberculosis, among others. Thus, mental health conditions posit a risk not only to your mental health but also your physical health in general. Experiencing mental health challenges can be detrimental if left unresolved, making it critical that you access care when you need it. Thirty years ago, WHO defined health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This definition reaffirmed health as a human right. But our lawmakers do not believe in a system that offers free healthcare to everyone. We must earn our access to healthcare, but that does not mean that it needs to be expensive.

With the right mental health provider and insurance plan, therapy can be a healing and transformative experience. Therapists understand that life presents difficulties that can reduce your quality of life and happiness. Our therapists will help you identify your challenges, connect you with someone who can prescribe medication and evaluate your physical health, if necessary, or keep you attending therapy to resolve your issues without the need of medication, your choice.