BATON ROUGE – Free mental health pop-up events are opening around the capital region, following a mass shooting that killed one person and injured five others at the mall on April 23.
Capital Area Human Services originally planned to open the pop-ups at community event centers and local libraries, but announced it will also open a location inside the mall from April 30 to May 7.
“The mental health pop-up events are actually a place where folks can just come, access mental health care at no cost. Walk-ups are welcome, no appointment, no hassle,” Dr. Jan Laughinghouse, the executive director of Capital Area Human Services, said.
She said the centers will offer residents mental health strategies and tools to help those affected by recent events.
Seven days after the shooting, some residents say the effects are still with them.
“It traumatized me even looking at it on the news after the fact,” a resident said.
Mary Banks, another resident, said the shooting hit close to home.
“It’s unexplainable. So much of it is happening. But just to have it here in our city, our mall, really the only mall,” Banks said.
Overall, residents say they believe the free mental health pop-up events are needed following the mass shooting.
“It’s beneficial. It helps. We do it in our schools when we have devastating things that happen. And I think that that’s a necessary thing. I like the fact that mental health is offered to people who might go through such crises,” a resident said.
Dates and locations for the mental health pop-up locations.
May 1st
– 12 to 3:30 p.m. at Eden Park Library
May 2nd
– 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Eden Park Library
May 4th
– 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center
May 5th
– 1 to 5 p.m. at EBR Goodwood Library
– 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Charles R. Kelly Community Center
May 6th
– 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Bluebonnet Library
May 7th
– 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Bluebonnet Library
– 12 to 4:30 p.m. EBR Goodwood Library.
The Mall of Louisiana’s pop-up mental health services will be available from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m., May 1st to the 7th.