Quannacut adds mental health services to its Riverhead outpatient clinic

Quannacut Outpatient Services has expanded the behavioral health services offered at its Riverhead clinic to include a state-licensed mental health clinic. 

Quannacut was established as an inpatient addiction services program by  Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport in 1989. At the time, ELIH (now Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital) was one the few facilities in the county to offer a full range of behavioral health services for individuals with addiction and mental health issues.  It has offered those services in Riverhead since 2001. Now with its new license from the New York State Office of Mental Health, Quannacut offers outpatient mental health services to people who do not have a substance abuse disorder.

It’s a significant expansion, said Dr. Kristie Golden Campo, associate director of operations, neurosciences/psychiatry at Stony Brook University Hospital, because mental health services are in great demand among all segments of the population.

“The demand among youth has risen significantly over the last few years,” she said in an interview last week. One of the goals of the Quannacut Outpatient Services clinic in Riverhead is to better reach that population, Golden Campo said.

People still hesitate to seek mental health services, she said. It’s important to let the community know that “we have these services” available locally, Golden Campo said.  

“I think that the more that we reduce stigma, the more that we will see people seek help and seek the help that they need,” she said. “So it’s our job as providers, regardless of what the community circumstances are, to provide access. We want to make access easy, so that regardless of what’s going on, …you know that we can help, that we’re here. We’re here for the kids. We’re here for the parents.”

Jackowski said the outpatient clinic provides psychiatric evaluations, medication management, social work and mental health, counselor therapy, group therapy, individual therapy, peer services,

In addition, the Quannacut outpatient clinic, under the leadership of Medical Director Dr. Jared Pachter, also offers primary care services as well, noted Janet Jackowski, vice president, behavioral health/social services at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital.

“Dr. Pachter is a duly certified family medicine practitioner and an addiction medicine provider, and has always been a strong advocate for not only the populations that we serve, but also the benefits of integrating care for all of these things under one roof, so that people can come to one place and get all of their needs and their medical needs met,” Jackowski said. 

“I think that really is sort of what ties everything together…The staff there, and everybody there wants to work with individuals in a holistic manner, and not just by disease,” Jackowski said.

The outpatient clinic moved to its current office at 905 East Main Street in 2019, upgrading to a larger space to meet growing demand for outpatient services in the area. 

Stony Brook Eastern Long Island held a ribbon-cutting and reception there this month to celebrate Quannacut’s licensure as a mental health services clinic.