Crisis Clinic: Timely Short-Term, Interdisciplinary, Family-Based Treatment for Youth in Crisis
Between 2016 and 2020, rates of anxiety and depression among youth increased by nearly 30% (Mahmood et al., 2024). In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 40% of youth were experiencing symptoms of depression, with 20% of adolescents reported having seriously contemplated suicide and 9% reported having attempted suicide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). In today’s youth mental health crisis, the Emergency Department (ED) has become a crucial center for psychiatric assessment and triage. However, it cannot realistically treat the variety of factors contributing to a psychiatric crisis for patients who do not meet criteria for an inpatient hospitalization but do not have ready access to outpatient services. Bradley Hospital’s Crisis Clinic was established to fill the gap between ED discharge and connection with long-term outpatient care by providing short-term treatment targeted at stabilizing patients in crisis and preventing adverse outcomes or admissions to a higher level of care. In this talk, McWilliams describes her clinical team’s work in providing timely therapeutic support for youth in crisis, including an overview of initial clinical data from a retrospective chart review of patients seen in Crisis Clinic during 2023-2024 as well as plans for future research in the clinic.
