Children’s Wisconsin opened this week a walk-in clinic on its Wauwatosa campus for children with urgent behavioral health needs.
The clinic is named the Craig Yabuki Mental Health Walk-In Clinic in honor of a $20 million donation from former Fiserv chief executive officer Jeffrey Yabuki’s family foundation to the health system (Craig Yabuki was Jeffery Yabuki’s brother who experienced undiagnosed depression during childhood and in 2017 died by suicide).
The health systems said the clinic, located in repurposed space on the second floor of Children’s Clinics Building, is the first of its kind in Wisconsin and fills a gap in care for children experiencing a mental health crisis.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in five children in the state was living with mental illness, and Wisconsin’s suicide rate was higher than most of the United States. Visits to Children’s emergency department and trauma center for mental and behavioral health concerns have increased by 40% since the pandemic’s onset.
This clinic is one component of Children’s Wisconsin’s multi-year plan to invest $150 million in mental health programs.
Licensed therapists, social workers and clinic assistants will see patients, ages 5-18, from 3-9:30 p.m. daily at the walk-in clinic. No appointment or referral is required.
Children’s staff will provide evaluations and determine any immediate safety concerns, and then communicate with a child’s existing doctors and therapists to continue to make resources available after the visit.
“This clinic is a direct result of us listening to families who are telling us they need more options,” said Amy Herbst, vice president of mental and behavioral health for Children’s Wisconsin. “We hope this clinic can provide a safe place for children in crisis to take a pause, talk with our specialists, and get the right care they need at the right time.”
