Therapists in Tampa, FL and Nearby Locations

Mental Health Resources in Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida, like much of the state, is known for its warm, sunny weather and outdoor activities. Tampa is in Hillsborough County, on the western coast of Florida. Tampa is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s the main city in the Tampa Bay metro area. The Tampa Bay metro is the fourth largest in the southeastern region of the U.S.

There are attractions in Tampa including Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and the Florida Aquarium. The nearby beaches particularly around Clearwater are beautiful and attract many tourists. There are professional sports teams who call Tampa home, and there is a relatively strong economy.

However, what about mental health care in Tampa, as well as issues like substance abuse and divorce? As with other major cities in the U.S., there are people in Tampa experiencing problems that require mental health care, and they often need to know what resources are available to them.

Tampa and all of Florida have been hard hit by the national opioid epidemic. As prescription pain medications and heroin have ravaged communities, Tampa and the surrounding areas haven’t been spared.

According to a 2017 report from the Medical Examiners Commission, deaths that were attributed in whole or part to opioids went up 35% from 2015. There was a total of 5,725 opioid-related deaths statewide in Florida in 2016. As is the case in many locations, people who are buying opioids like heroin on the streets are inadvertently taking the powerful and incredibly deadly synthetic drug fentanyl, which is often mixed into these substances.

In the Tampa Bay area, there was also an increase in deaths related to cocaine according to the same report. There was a 57% increase in cocaine-related deaths from 2015 to 2016 statewide in Florida.

Pinellas County, which is part of the Tampa Bay metro, is one of the Florida counties with the highest number of arrests due to drug possession. This is according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch.

Along with substance abuse, poverty is an issue faced by many people in the area. A report from the end of 2016 showed that more than 200,000 people in Hillsborough County live in poverty. More than one in four children in Hillsborough County reportedly live below the poverty level, and an estimated 17% of the county’s total population lived below the poverty level in 2016.

Other reports show that the crime rates in Tampa are higher than in other areas. According to the Neighborhood Scout, the crime index in Tampa is 22, out of a rating of 100 which represents the safest cities. There is a violent crime rate of more than 5 per 1,000 residents in the city. The murder, robbery, and assault rates are higher than the U.S. average.

In 2013, there was a report that also named Tampa as one of the top five cities in the U.S. for the highest divorce rates. According to the report, the Tampa Bay area including Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater had a population of more than 280,000 divorced people out of 2.7 million total people. 11.6% of men and 14.2% of women were divorced at the time of the report. Tampa was only behind Las Vegas in terms of high divorce rates.

Mental Health Resources in Tampa

There are resources for people in Tampa and the surrounding areas who need mental health services and help. There are non-profit resources such as Project Helping Tampa. Project Helping Tampa is an organization made up of volunteers who work in the community to promote mental wellness. According to the organization, the goal is to help improve mental wellness in Tampa by creating meaningful and accessible volunteer experiences.

The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is a non-profit organization where people can go if they have been the victim of sexual assault or other forms of trauma. The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay also offers suicide prevention services, and they operate several call centers and hotlines for people who may need help.

There are also private or for-profit mental health care facilities throughout Tampa including the North Tampa Behavioral Health Hospital and the Northside Behavioral Health Center. There is the Rogers Behavioral Health Center at Rogers Memorial Health, and BayCare, which is the largest provider of behavioral health services in Tampa Bay.

Along with non-profits and facilities, there are hundreds of therapists in the Tampa Bay area.