NEW YORK: How a Hospital and a School District Teamed Up to Help Kids in Emotional Crisis

NPR

A school-hospital partnership in Long Island may be a model for connecting kids with mental health care. In response to a series of student suicide deaths in 2019, several local school districts teamed up with Cohen Children’s Medical Center to provide students with direct access to mental health services. In January 2020, the partners established a new behavioral health center, where students at risk are evaluated and treated by a child psychiatrist and counselor. The center also provides support to school staff and families to help them manage and cope with kids’ mental health issues. Data suggest there was a decline in mental health-related emergency department visits among school district students in the year after the center opened compared to the previous. Since kids spend so much time at school, partnerships between children’s hospitals and schools are ideal, said Ujjwal Ramtekkar, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Spark Extra! Learn more about suicide prevention partnerships.