by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 27, 2024 | Access to Mental Health Services, For Professionals, Mental Health
Rady Children’s Successfully Reduces Frequency of Emergency Mental Health Visits
Written by Erin Bader
A recent article has highlighted a California approach to meeting the mental health needs of children before they reach a crisis point. According to the article from the Chief Healthcare Executive, Rady Children Hospital in San Diego has seen a recent decrease in children coming into the Emergency Department for mental health needs after the hospital started placing mental health providers in primary care clinics. To date, Rady Children’s has seen a 40% reduction in mental health visits to the emergency department. The system has also reported a 44% decline in anxiety symptoms and a 62% drop in depression symptoms. “The difficult truth is that children and adolescents often do not receive mental health care when they need it,” Domonique Hensler, senior director of systemwide Care at Rady Children’s, and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “The need for effective, accessible treatment is more pressing than ever,” Hensler said. “Our interdisciplinary, team-based approach to pediatric mental health care has been shown to be efficacious, accessible, and cost-effective.”
A recent Children’s Hospital Association survey found almost all pediatric hospitals (94%) said they have seen an increase in the number of children and teens requiring mental health services. More than half of children’s hospitals (58%) surveyed said they are conce ed about a lack of mental health resources to care for those patients. The number of young people visiting emergency departments for mental health reasons rose from 4.8 million in 2011 to 7.5 million in 2020, according to a study published by the Jou al of the American Medical Association.
The National Center can help your State, Tribe, or territory to build this type of cross-system collaboration through intensive technical assistance. To lea more about this practice and the research findings, you can read the full article on the Knowledge Hub.
by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 27, 2024 | Access to Mental Health Services, Mental Health
New Research by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Reveals Nationwide Gaps in Pediatric Psychiatric Care
Written by Erin Bader A new study led by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles evaluated the pediatric inpatient psychiatric capacity. Key research findings between 2017 to 2020 show:
- This national study found no significant increase in the availability of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds since 2017
- A child’s access to pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds varies widely by state—from zero pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds in Alaska to 75 beds per 100,000 children in Arkansas
- Almost 89% of hospitals with inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were located in cities—meaning kids in rural areas have to travel long distances to receive care
- About half of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in free-standing psychiatric hospitals
- 17% of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in children’s psychiatric hospitals
- 23% of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in hospitals specializing in pediatric care
These findings validate the need for creative solutions to ensure that children have access to the mental health services they need. The study author, Anna Cushing, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, says “We’re seeing a greater need for mental health services for children nationwide, and children increasingly having to wait in the emergency room for long periods of time because there are not enough inpatient psychiatric beds available,” Cushing said. “All children should have access to high-quality mental healthcare regardless of where they live, their household income or their background.” The National Center shares Dr. Cushing’s mission. We will work with States, Tribes, and territories to build sustainable cross-system collaborations to improve accessibility and availability to competent mental health services.
To read the full article, New Research by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles | Newswise. Visit the Knowledge Hub to access the study findings report.
by Alisa Greenwood | Jan 2, 2024 | General, Mental Health
Adoption competent mental health services are responsive to the unique needs of children, youth, and families who have experienced the child welfare system. It is a comprehensive approach that addresses the common core issues children, youth, and families experience as they navigate separation, loss, and trauma. Many young people who have been adopted, entered a guardianship, or experienced foster care, struggle to integrate their experiences into their identity. Having access to a clinician who understands what they have gone through can make all the difference. Rachel shares what it meant to her.
My Hunt for Home
Rachel Shifaraw
A self-proclaimed lifelong “wanderer,” I have always been searching for a place that feels like home. A place where I feel free to be my most authentic self…a place where my questions are answered & my voice is not only heard but more importantly, understood. Shortly after I was adopted, my parents converted me to Judaism. As a little girl growing up, I thought I would find “home” on the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem. I was hopeful that my sense of community & belonging would rest in my religion, as it seems to do for so many…only to be let down when it did not for me. As the years blew by, I continued searching for this missing piece of myself. I had become an adult, with children of my own & was convinced the void within my soul sat in the hands of my biological mother. I traveled back to the city of Santiago, Chile, where my story first started. I remember running into the arms of my first mom, expecting all my adoption aches to finally disappear but was deeply disappointed when I left weeks later, STILL feeling empty-handed.
I came to The Center for Adoption Support & Education (C.A.S.E.) when I was 33 years old. I had poured my heart out into writing a piece on how “different” I felt throughout adolescence as an adoptee. For the past 7 years, I spent time lea ing about adoption competency & discovering how critical it is to have adoption competent professionals managing the psychological components of the adopted mind. I have come to develop & understand parts of myself that once seemed unexplainable to everybody…even other mental health professionals. I have been able to progress at piecing together my personal puzzle after always feeling like it was irreparably fractured because I am finally surrounded by clinicians who are specialized in helping adopted people, just like me. Best of all, I do not feel “different” when I am amongst my C.A.S.E. community. After decades of searching, I finally feel like I have a place to call home.
