While El Futuro’s Durham office reopens to clients, Siler City office stays remote
By VICTORIA JOHNSON
SILER CITY — El Futuro will once again allow patients into its Durham office for in-person appointments, according to a Friday press release, but its Siler City location will stay remote for now.
“We hope we can open the Siler City office soon,” El Futuro’s communications manager, Mary Hondermann, told the News & Record. “In the meantime, we are learning new things during this process in our Durham clinic and still figuring things out to serve our community the best way we can.”
El Futuro is a bilingual mental health clinic that serves the Spanish-speaking community with a bundle of bilingual services, including therapy, psychiatry, substance use treatment and case management.
It has two clinics — one in Durham and another in Siler City, located on 401 North Ivey Ave. Its Durham office is located at 2020 Chapel Hill Drive, Suite 23. The Durham clinic reopening follows more than a year of virtual-only services, after COVID-19 forced its offices to shut down in March of 2020.
“After a challenging year offering our services virtually, we are finally able to continue serving our patients face to face, and this fills us with excitement!” the press release said. “This is also a great step to start new connections and pick up what we had left behind because of COVID.”
Patients may call 919-688-7101 to make in-person appointments at El Futuro’s Durham clinic or to seek more information. According to the clinic’s website, staff may require patients to wear masks and socially distance themselves while inside “to keep things safe.”
El Futuro will also hold a walk-in clinic beginning Aug. 3rd that new patients may attend. Thereafter, they’ll hold the walk-in clinic in Durham every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon. Walk-in appointments are first-come, first-serve. Staff asks that patients bring their Medicaid, Health Choice or Medicare insurance cards if they have them, but will also treat those without insurance.
Several El Futuro therapists, including Courtney Crawford, previously told the News & Record that though telehealth has its limits, it also brought many opportunities — including expanded service hours and reach. Crawford is also El Futuro’s director of outpatient clinical services.
“Throughout the pandemic, clients have graciously invited me into their homes via video during our telehealth visits,” Crawford said in the press release. “I listened to their life stories and even watched housework finish as we spoke.”
Yet, despite the unexpected benefits, Crawford said, telehealth couldn’t quite match up to in-person therapy — and that’s why she’s glad to return.
“As we reopen our clinic, I am particularly excited to see patients in person in an environment that is welcoming, friendly, and free of interruptions,” she said. “I look forward to giving clients an hour in their week where they can pause, reflect, and move toward greater health and healing. I have to admit that I feel very good to welcome them to our home, El Futuro.”
