Press Mentions
Yahoo News: Mental health ER visits among children rising — experts point to a broken system
“The psychiatric emergency room can be a lifesaver for young people who are acutely suicidal,” Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president and medical director of the nonprofit Child Mind Institute, said in a statement to Yahoo News. “This study speaks volumes about the lack of school-based or outpatient programs. The system is broken.”
“When a child is having a meltdown or is in crisis at home, a lot of them don’t have a child psychiatrist to call to get advice on or to bring them to see the next day,” Michael Enenbach, a psychiatrist and the clinical director of the Child Mind Institute, told Yahoo News. “Oftentimes, it’s just a cycle of behavior disorders at home. They come to the hospital, they’re fine, then they get discharged. Then the whole thing happens a couple days later because they don’t have access to care. So parents’ only option, if they’re feeling unsafe, is to go to the emergency room.”
