New Mexico

New behavioral health clinics open across New Mexico

Published

10 months ago

January 16, 2025

New behavioral health clinics open across New Mexico

Five new behavioral health clinics are now open, all operating under the agency’s new community behavioral health clinic program.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – 2025 is shaping up to be a transformative year for behavioral health in New Mexico. Not only are New Mexico state lawmakers promising to make serious investments in the system, but new community clinics are now accepting patients in several cities.

It sounds like more are coming and that’s the goal according to officials with New Mexico’s Health Care Authority. Five new behavioral health clinics are now open, all operating under the agency’s new community behavioral health clinic program.

The idea is to relocate all sorts of mental health and addiction treatment services under one roof, making it easier for New Mexicans to get help when they need it most.

“We can’t just criminalize behavior. There are certain times where folks need that additional support, and we need to kind of give them those resources for treatment,” said Nick Boukas, a Behavioral Health Services director with New Mexico Health Care Authority.

New Mexicans in Bernalillo County can now find that extra support inside a community behavioral health clinic nestled within the UNM Hospital campus. It’s a 16-room facility offering a full menu of behavioral health treatments for anyone who needs them.

“You can walk up regardless of your ability to pay. It’s open to everyone, and they will work with you and get you the services that you need,” said Boukas.

The UNM facility is one of five new community behavioral health clinics now open across the state. There are similar facilities in Carlsbad, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, and Farmington.

“Whether it’s for your child, whether it’s for your parent, whether it’s for yourself, and you need treatment for substance use, you need treatment for a behavioral health issue, or if you’re a veteran, you can go to that one place, and you’re going to get the resources that you need looking in one place, as opposed to having to go through the phone book and trying to figure out, how do I get this,” Boukas said.

New Mexico is one of 10 states to receive federal money to implement the community behavioral health clinic model.

Boukas says his department is already looking to expand this model to other New Mexico communities.

“We’re seeing other providers that are interested in doing this, because they realize that this is a program that not only do we believe in, but it’s also going to benefit them and the communities that they serve,” said Boukas.

Rebuilding New Mexico’s behavioral health system one clinic at a time.

“When we talk rebuilding, it’s a little bit of everything. We need to modernize the system. We need support for infrastructure, but we also need staffing to go into that,” Boukas said. “But then also in looking at the programs and saying what needs to be updated, what needs to be added, and how do we do that in a way so that we’re not going to overburden the system, but also make sure that the services that they’re getting are what people need.”

Rebuilding New Mexico’s behavioral health system is a major goal for New Mexico’s state lawmakers this year.

Legislative leaders confirmed there are significant investments already built into their state budget proposal.

“There is a very strong start and down payment when it comes to behavioral health, over $200 million addressing everything from behavioral health care professionals to housing to the linkages and many other components,” said state Rep. Nathan Small.

Legislative leaders say they’re assembling a package of behavioral health bills, and we’ll hopefully get a closer look at those proposals in the coming days.

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New Mexico

Man charged in double homicide told New Mexico deputies a cockroach told him to kill

Published

15 hours ago

November 9, 2025

Press Room

Man charged in double homicide told New Mexico deputies a cockroach told him to kill

A man is facing murder charges after allegedly admitting to deputies that he fatally shot two people inside a New Mexico home after receiving “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill,” authorities say.

Alexis Hernandez, 25, was arrested and charged with two open counts of murder in connection with a Friday incident inside a southwest Albuquerque home, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Hernandez was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Saturday morning, and it is not immediately clear if he has retained a lawyer.

Authorities have not identified the men killed in the incident or the two young children who were also found inside the house at the time.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, deputies responded to reports of gunfire in southwest Albuquerque just before 10:30 p.m. When deputies arrived, they were met at the front door by Hernandez, who “had a firearm on his waistband and a Marine Corps Sabre on his hip,” the arrest warrant said.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has arrested 27-year-old Alexis Najera Hernandez after deputies say he confessed to shooting and killing two men inside a home in Albuquerque, N.M.Crime Stoppers of New Mexico

Hernandez, who was immediately detained, told deputies he was in the Marines and “had to do what he had to do,” the warrant states. He then allegedly stated there were two dead bodies inside the residence.

Once inside the house, the warrant states, deputies found one dead man “with possible gunshot wounds” in the front of the house and a second man with apparent stab wounds in an attached apartment.

The two children who were found inside were safely removed from the residence, the arrest warrant states.

In an interview with deputies after he was taken into custody, Hernandez said that he knew the two slain men, one of whom was the owner of the property, according to the warrant. He then allegedly said he had believed the property owner was a friend who had been stalking him during the days leading up to the incident.

The warrant states Hernandez alleged the friend had placed cameras in the lights. Hernandez also told deputies that he was allegedly “hearing creepy voices coming from the vents” and “had been getting signs” that he had to end the property owner before he ended him.

Hernandez later allegedly told deputies that he also had received “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill” the property owner, the warrant says. He added that the property owner allegedly did not like cockroaches.

The warrant states that Hernandez had previously purchased a Glock handgun, which he said he had for “protection.” Hernandez told deputies that on Friday the two men allegedly took him to the back room of the home and that he “was afraid for his life at this point.”

He said he shot the property owner in the head and the other in the kitchen, the warrant says. At one point, Hernandez allegedly told deputies, he had gone to his Honda Pilot to reload his gun before going back to each victim and shooting him again.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the details of the second man’s cause of death.

The warrant states Hernandez admitted that he did not know what to do after the attack, so he “stayed on scene and walked around.” He allegedly added that he knew about the two children at the house and that they saw him shoot the two men.

He added that “he was not going to take the kids or do anything to them,” the warrant says.

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