Intermountain Healthcare Launches Behavioral Health Navigation Service to Help People Struggling with Their Mental Well-Being During COVID-19 Pandemic

Intermountain Healthcare has launched a free, new community call-in resource to help support patients, clinicians, and the public who are seeking to address emotional health concerns during these challenging times.

The Intermountain Behavioral Health Navigation Service offers callers guidance, tools, and referrals for people experiencing issues related to their mental well-being. It’s free and can be reached seven days a week from 10 am to 10 pm at 833-442-2211.

The Behavioral Health Navigation Service connects callers with a trained care coordinator who can provide appropriate self-care tools, peer support, treatment options, crisis resources, and more. The team of care coordinators includes navigators from Intermountain’s Behavioral Health Clinical Program and trained caregivers from the health system’s COVID-19 Call Center.

The free hotline has been developed in collaboration with community partners, including Utah’s Department of Human Services and the University of Utah’s Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI) Crisis Line.

“At a time when distress and uncertainty are part of our common experience, it can be difficult to find strong emotional footing,” said Morissa Henn, community health director at Intermountain Healthcare. “These coordinated resources and caring teams can help bolster the mental well-being of our families, colleagues, and community. 

In situations of acute or imminent psychiatric crisis, the care coordinator will stay on the line while connecting the caller to UNI representatives to deploy additional help and resources.

In non-crisis scenarios, coordinators will help connect people to key resources, including employee assistance programs, local mental health authorities, domestic violence services, clinical treatment teams, and peer counselors. They will also direct callers to free educational materials and digital self-care technologies.

"Just as we need people to have access to reliable medical information for COVID-19, we also need access to resources and support for the emotional and mental health stressors we are experiencing,” said Kim Myers, assistant director of mental health at the Utah Department of Human Services. “The Behavioral Health Navigation Service, in coordination with existing services, is an important addition to the continuum of services to support our whole health as individuals and communities.”

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