In August 2026, Stamford (Conn.) Health is opening the Bennett Child & Adolescent EmPATH Unit and PATHways Program located within the Stamford Hospital Emergency Department to expand behavioral health services for children and adolescents in Fairfield County. The Carl & Dorothy Bennett Foundation contributed $1 million to support the initiative.
The Bennett Child & Adolescent Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) unit serves young patients in crisis. Patients are typically evaluated, treated and stabilized within 24 to 48 hours before clinicians determine the next level of care, according to a July 23 news release from the system.
The PATHways Program is a 12-week outpatient initiative that provides structured therapy, psychiatric support and care coordination after discharge from the EmPATH Unit. Patients continue care with the same clinical team that treated them during their emergency visit.
The openings are part of Stamford Health’s broader behavioral health expansion, which also includes plans to convert the Bennett Cancer Center into a two-story behavioral health facility with a Partial Hospitalization Program and outpatient interventional psychiatric services, according to the release.
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