Youths across the U.S. are facing a mental health crisis, with systems having limited time, access and resources. As the crisis continues, more systems are investing in bringing behavioral health services to the youth through community-based care and crisis stabilization units.
Here are the five systems implementing these investments:
1. Carson City, Nev.-based Carson Tahoe Health has expanded its youth behavioral health services to strengthen the continuum of care, including an inpatient unit, a youth crisis stabilization unit and enhanced outpatient behavioral health services for all ages, according to a Dec. 8 report from Carson Now.
2. New York City-based Montefiore Einstein has completed a 21-bed inpatient pediatric mental health center in the Bronx for youths ages 5 to 17 with severe psychiatric needs, scheduled to open to patients Dec. 15. The new center nearly doubles the acute child and adolescent psychiatry inpatient bed capacity in the Bronx, where about 25 beds currently serve existing demand.
3. Nashville, Tenn.-based Mental Health Cooperative has opened a children and youth stabilization unit for patients ages 4 to 17. The facility includes 15 beds and two observation beds for high-risk patients with a focus on stabilizing children in crisis and connecting families with long-term support.
4. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health has partnered with school districts to bring mental health services to youths. The program has grown from 55 school districts to more than 70 — reaching roughly 275,000 children — with the goal of making immediate psychiatry care as accessible as a school counselor’s referral.
5. Monterey County, Calif.-based Montage Health has opened the Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, largely funded from a $100 million gift from a single donor, with the aim of tackling access, a major concern in child and adolescent psychiatry.
“As much as 75% of childhood psychiatric illnesses with the right diagnosis and evidence based treatment are curable. … That said, only about 1 in 5 kids who have a psychiatric illness ever see a mental health clinician. So 80% don’t,” Susan Swick, MD, executive director said.
