Advancing Behavioral Health Care

Advancing Behavioral Health Care

Learn how children’s hospitals and health systems are addressing the national emergency in child and adolescent mental health.
Parent and child on basketball court.

Amid a national crisis in child and adolescent behavioral health, children’s hospitals and health systems are rising to the challenge. Despite facing unprecedented staffing and volume pressures over the last few years, they have advanced behavioral health care through innovative and proven programs, partnerships and workforce solutions. These stretch the typical boundaries of hospital care, meeting kids before, during and after a mental health crisis to ensure they receive essential care at every point in their journey.

“Children’s hospitals have been doing tremendous work to address the crisis, not only thinking outside the box but expanding the box itself,” says Jeff Sperring CEO of Seattle Children’s and chair of CHA’s Board of Trustees. “Whether devising creative labor strategies, reimagining community partnerships, or integrating behavioral health where kids spend their time, children’s hospitals have changed the paradigm for how we provide behavioral health care and build a workforce to sustain it.”

Find a collection of these strategies below. If your hospital has a program making an impact, we'd love to hear from you

About Behavioral Health

Children's hospitals are working together to tackle the behavioral health crisis in the communities they serve.

Workforce

Building and Developing Behavioral Health Workforce Capacity

A look at one children’s hospital’s effort to expand recruitment, training and behavioral health care.

How to Cut OSHA-Recordable Events in Half

A pathway at St. Louis Children’s Hospital decreases workplace violence and length of stay for patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Pediatric Workforce Shortages Persist in 2024

Children’s hospitals continue to experience shortages across pediatric care fields with an outsized impact on mental and behavioral health specialties.

This Certification Course Increased Retention for Behavioral Health Staff and Outcomes for Patients

After developing an in-house certification program, behavioral health staff turnover fell by half, patient restraints decreased by 44%, and employee engagement skyrocketed.

Training Pediatricians in Behavioral Health

Program increases early intervention efforts by equipping providers to identify and treat mental health conditions.

Building Tomorrow's Behavioral Health Workforce Today

How one children’s hospital is addressing the mental and behavioral health workforce shortage by investing in training and educational programs.

Early Intervention

Incorporating Mental Health Screenings and Interventions in a Subspecialty Clinic

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital reduced depression and anxiety scores for patients by nearly 65% in a subspecialty clinic.

An Early Intervention Program for Behavioral Health Patients

Three new roles at Children’s Wisconsin increased access to behavioral health care.

Tackling the Youth Mental Health Crisis Through Integrated Care

Rady Children’s has developed a mental and behavioral health integrated care model focusing on early identification, proactive interventions and promotion of whole child care and family wellness.

Prevention Through Intervention: A School-Based Behavioral Health Program

A system of behavioral health centers increases access and intervention for students in more than 280 New York schools.

Exploring Strategies for Wraparound Behavioral Health Services in Schools

Learn how two children's hospitals are working with schools to provide behavioral health services.

Early Intervention Strategies for Behavioral Health

External programs at Driscoll Children’s Hospital help curb behavioral health issues before they become crises.

Emergency Department

A Simple Process to Reduce the Need for Physical Restraints

A five-minute process led to a 67% reduction in the use of restraints for behavioral health patients in the emergency department.

Decreasing Behavioral Health Unit Readmissions

Dayton Children's Hospital decreased its seven-day behavioral health unit readmission rate by nearly 50%.

3 Ways to Address the Boarding Crisis

Training, staffing, and communication are essential to reducing the number of behavioral health patients waiting for inpatient or outpatient care.

Improve Behavioral Health Outcomes With a Standardized Toolkit

This five-part behavioral health toolkit significantly reduced the use of patient restraints, OSHA-recordable staff injuries and DART injuries.

Strategies to Reduce Behavioral Health Boarding Time

One children’s hospital reduced boarding times of behavioral health patients by 36% with changes to processes, technology, and staffing.

Preventing Mental Health Crises and Emergency Department Visits

A crisis response program reduces emergency department visits by meeting patients in their homes during a crisis.

Community Collaborations

Preventing Youth Suicide National Collaborative

The collaborative is part of Children Hospital Association's ongoing work to address the youth mental health crisis.

A Community Approach to Improving Access to Behavioral Health Services

Learn how one children's hospital sought to build community solutions to address both mental and behavioral health needs, as well as social determinants of health.

How to Help Parents Talk to Their Children About Mental Health

A pediatric psychologist offers strategies clinicians can share with parents to help children talk about how they’re feeling.

Legal Services Program Addresses Gaps in Mental Health Care

Health Law Advocates’ Mental Health Advocacy Program for Kids partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital ACO to help families navigate the complex systems around mental health services.

Bridging the Gap in Children's Behavioral Health Care

A large multi-disciplinary collaborative offers children and their families a one-stop approach to care.

Making Behavioral Health a Community Endeavor

A preventive mental health program enlists community collaboration to execute interventions.