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The College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University is opening a health center that specializes in the treatment and prevention of child and adolescent mental health disorders.

The Phoenix facility, named the Southwest Health Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child-Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Disorders, opens Nov 2. Dean Melnyk, a pediatric and child-family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, said primary care providers see 75% of children with mental health and behavioral problems and are in a unique position to manage their cases.

“However, heavy case loads limit their capacity and time to treat all patients in need,” Melnyk said in a news release. “In Arizona, five of the 15 counties do not have child psychiatrists to which PCPs can refer their patients.”

Melnyk said plans call for telehealth services to be established at the center in the future for families who live a long distance from Phoenix. The project is funded in part by a grant from United Healthcare.