New Child Behavioral Health Wing Opening in Palm Harbor

Since 2018, the Juvenile Wellness Board and partners have helped 70,000 Pinellas County kids get paired up with behavioral health professionals.

Today, the reach will be even greater as a new behavioral health wing opens at the Children’s Medical Center in Palm Harbor.

Integrated mental and behavioral health care with regular doctors’ offices has proven to be very successful in recent years.

The Children’s Medical Center says kids and teens are more comfortable in environments they are familiar with, and having the resources to deal with mental health at a regular doctors’ office means less traveling and less time to get care.

Dr. Steve O’Brien is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with kids and families. He says since COVID, there has been less stigma around mental health treatment and any new facilities will help increase capacity for those that need help and to find it.

“There is a need for more accessible counseling,” said O’Brien. “So, in other words, there are more people in mental health than there were years ago. However, they can often also be difficult for people to access either because of insurance issues, money issues and issues with transportation. Even though it is true, there is a lot of online therapy. I find that teens tend to go one way or the other when it comes to online therapy. Some of them like it and others want that in-person experience.”

When it comes to mental health, in-person care is exactly what they will get in the new Children’s Medical Center behavioral health wing.

Watch the segment and read the article as originally published at https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2025/05/20/new-child-behavioral-health-wing-opening-in-palm-harbor