Women’s Mental Health Center
Reported by Evan Axelbank
Tampa, Florida – GracePointe, a mental health provider in Hillsborough County, is opening a women’s-only mental health clinic that it believes will be the first of its kind in the nation.
“At one point we had someone come in who was actually a victim of sex trafficking, and she gave birth to a baby in the process,” said Joan Ford, a mental health nurse.
Ford is used to hearing women in crisis say they’ve been victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. GracePoint administrators said women are three times more likely to attempt suicide than men, and 18 percent of women report having experienced trauma, compared with 3 percent of men.
read: Pinellas County introduces new program aimed at connecting residents with mental health providers
GracePointe has broken ground on a new 60,000-square-foot hospital with 30 beds specifically for women.
“Right now, inpatient units are coed,” Ford said, “and if someone has been a victim of any kind of trauma or abuse and the perpetrator is a man, that can compound the trauma.”
The very act of creating a dedicated space where women can feel comfortable is important.
Gracepointe administrators have dreamed of establishing a women-only facility for decades, but they will soon find out if they succeed.
more: Tampa Police and Crisis Center Partner to Launch Crisis Intervention Dispatch Program
“It’s so gratifying to see these women come out of here with a smile on their face and say, ‘I’m OK now,'” said GracePoint CEO Loaya Tyson. “When you see them get jobs, start families, get homes, it all makes it worth it.”
The new clinic will offer 24/7 assessments, individual and group therapy and will also incorporate yoga and meditation, with the goal not only to help women but to fill a service gap felt in the region and across the state.
With women five times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse than men, Gracepoint said it was time for women’s mental health to be treated as a specialist issue.
The new Mariposa Behavioral Health Hospital is expected to open by the end of 2025.
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