A Bangor-based therapist will soon open a satellite office in Caribou to help meet the growing need for behavioral health care in Aroostook County.
Root & Rise Psychotherapy, founded in 2020 by Katherine Butler Hepler, aims to open its 159 Bennett Drive practice for a soft opening on Jan. 11. Two local therapists will initially work out of the office, with the hopes of adding a third in the future.
“I never imagined expanding past Bangor,” said Hepler, who is a licensed psychologist. “I’m just a tiny little [practice] … We’ve had such good support in terms of other local businesses, local community in expanding up here.”
Root & Rise sees roughly 150 clients throughout the state, with another three clinicians in Bangor and several more via telehealth. One of those telehealth counselors proposed establishing a physical location in The County, where the rural setting and lack of providers means long waits and long drives for treatment.
“When Mary shared that the wait list at the site that she did her internship at was a year or two long, I was like ‘Oh, my God,’” Hepler said. “That’s a long time for people to sit and struggle.”
Nineteen percent of Aroostook County adults are currently receiving outpatient mental health treatment, according to the Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment Report, but the region has approximately just eight psychiatrists and 11 psychologists for its 67,105 residents.
It’s a stark contrast to Maine’s population centers. In Cumberland County, there are more than 160 psychiatrists and 240 psychologists, according to data compiled by the Rural Health Research Center at the University of Washington.
In Penobscot County, home to the agency’s other office, there are roughly 45 psychiatrists and 88 psychologists.
“There’s less access and more need,” said Mary Hill, a conditionally licensed clinical professional counselor from Van Buren. “It’s an isolated place, and there’s a high amount of people that feel depressed this time of year because of the sun and the weather and things like that.”
Hill, who is primarily a rehabilitation counselor, will see clients in the Caribou office. As will Paula Cyr, the COO of Healing Hearts, another outpatient mental health agency in Aroostook. Cyr has a background in anxiety, depression and trauma, Hepler said.
Hill is looking forward to seeing the benefits of working with clients in person.
“Everybody that I’m talking to really wants in-person [services] up here,” Hill said. It’s something with The County. They like the in-person approach. Having the physical location, I can say, ‘yes, we’re here and we do these hours.’”
The practice is in the space formerly occupied by Seacoast Security and has been renovated to match the calm mood of the agency’s Bangor office. It will be open from 9-5 on Sundays with 11-12 immediate openings. Session fees can range from $150-$200 depending on the provider and type of appointment.
Root & Rise is in network for roughly a dozen insurance providers and is awaiting a MaineCare site visit to accept payments from Maine’s Medicaid program at the Caribou location.
“I think we struggle especially to have enough providers who accept Maine Care, particularly among psychologists or in private practice,” Hepler said. “A lot of people don’t take Maine Care or Medicare. Those are the two bookends of vulnerable populations that are not being served as well as I think we could.”
Accepting those two insurance programs was a “values-driven” decision for Hepler, who said she recognizes there are barriers to access mental health care in the state.
In Aroostook County, those barriers appear in several forms — from provider shortages to economic struggles to long travel for care. Hepler hopes her new practice helps fill some of the gaps.
“I’m really hoping to meet the need of the community,” Hepler said. “Like, yeah, O.K., we get by. But we could do better than get by, we could thrive with the right resources and supports. And that’s really what I hope people have the opportunity to find.”
