BALTIMORE — After two years of construction and planning, the University of Maryland Children's Hospital on Wednesday unveiled their new Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit.
Equipped with 16-bed, the state-of-the-art unit is the first in the state designed both architecturally and clinically to deliver “trauma-informed” care for children ages 5 to 17 years old.
Trauma-informed care is a framework for treating patients who have endured abuse, neglect, violence, school issues and other traumatic events—which not all, but many young patients have experienced.
According to the CDC, children’s mental health-related emergency room visits increased during the first year of the pandemic, compared to 2019.
In September 2020, a screening of more than 1.5 million people found over half of children 11 to 17 reported having thoughts of suicide or self-harm nearly every day of the previous two weeks.
From January to September 2020 -- 77,470 youth reported experiencing frequent suicidal ideation, including 27,980 LGBTQ+ youth.
Prior to these findings, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention published that almost 19 percent of high school students who responded to the agency’s 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicated they had seriously considered suicide.
Here is just some of what the new children's hospital can help their patients with.
· Trauma disorder (PTSD, acute stress disorder, adjustment disorder)
· Psychotic spectrum disorders (schizophrenia, substance-induced psychotic disorder)
· Mood disorders (depression and bipolar disorder)
· Anxiety disorders (phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder)
· Co-morbid neurodevelopmental disorders (high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, mild intellectual disability)
· Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
