GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. \u2014 Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services unveiled its new Pediatric Center of Behavioral Health on Wednesday, a facility aimed at expanding access to mental health care for children and adolescents across Michigan.<\/p>\n
The center, located on Pine Rest\u2019s campus in Grand Rapids, includes 66 inpatient beds and the state\u2019s first pediatric psychiatric urgent care center of its kind. <\/p>\n
It is set to begin accepting patients March 23.<\/p>\n
State and local leaders gathered for a grand opening event and tour of the facility, highlighting what they described as a critical investment in addressing a growing youth mental health crisis<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the country, we know that youth mental health challenges are at an all-time high,\u201d Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said during the event.<\/p>\n
The new center is designed to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, depression, substance use and eating disorders. It also offers more immediate options for families seeking help during a crisis.<\/p>\n
Health care providers say the expansion comes as demand for pediatric mental health services continues to outpace available resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere haven\u2019t been enough beds, and I think it helps us be able to care for kids in an environment that is safe, secure, and healing,\u201d Gretchen Johnson, Pine Rest\u2019s chief nursing officer and vice president of care services, said. <\/p>\n
The facility is designed specifically for children and adolescents, with features intended to support treatment. This includes sensory rooms, calming spaces and areas for recreation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want to do is try to use the space itself as a therapeutic tool,\u201d Joe Karb, director of nursing for the pediatric center, said. \u201cAll the design work that we put into this building was purposeful to help the building become part of the treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project was supported, in part, by more than $50 million in state funding across two bipartisan budgets, according to Whitmer. <\/p>\n
Leaders say the center will serve families from across Michigan, and could help reduce reliance on emergency rooms for mental health crises.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can help people get treatment, we prevent further crisis down the road,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
The goal, according to officials, is to provide earlier intervention and more specialized care for young people as mental health needs among children and teens continue to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. \u2014 Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services unveiled its new Pediatric Center of Behavioral Health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-532622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}