Back to school season can be hard on some children.
It comes with a new routine and a big transition back into classrooms that can stir up stress, anxiety and other mental health issues.
On Wednesday, local leaders and experts in the mental health space met at The Village for Families and Children in Hartford to remind parents they’re not alone and that resources like The Village’s Urgent Crisis Center are ready to help them navigate their children’s mental health struggles.
For a long time, the only place for parents to take their children in a mental health crisis was the emergency room. Today, there’s more options for families.
Hartford mom Lisa Paradis said she didn’t realize that option existed when she was taking her daughter to the emergency department for her violent outbursts.
“She’s got some special needs. She’s got a very complex background,” Paradis said.
Now, her daughter is in middle school, and after brining her to the urgent crisis center at The Village, Paradis said she is doing much better.
“They were able to bring my daughter’s levels way down. We were brought into a room, we could stay together, which was something that also didn’t happen in the emergency room,” Paradis said.
She added that it’s made such a difference for her daughter that she asks to come here herself now.
“Coming to a crisis center where it’s more one-on-one, not only is your child being supported, but they’re really looking out for the entire family,” Paradis said.
Just like the name indicates, The Village isn’t your typical urgent crisis center.
“This is a very different environment than an emergency room. So, the lighting is different, the sounds are different, the pace is different,” Vice President of Advancement at The Village Derek Slap said.
He said just like the campus itself, children need somewhere calming to heal.
“So, it’s someplace that we think children are going to find inviting and a place that they can get regulated and then get the help they need,” Slap said.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Dr. Steven Rogers, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Connecticut Children’s Hospital’s Youth Suicide Prevention Center, said suicide risk in children might be more common than parents realize.
“One in five children who come to our emergency department at Connecticut Children’s will screen positive for suicide risk,” Dr. Rogers said.
No matter what reason children come to the emergency department for, he said they screen children with a suicide questionnaire, which identifies more than 2,500 at-risk-youth each year.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in children in Connecticut, and with September being National Suicide Prevention Month, Rogers said now’s the time for parents to monitor their children’s moods closely. He added it’s also important for parents to have open and honest conversations with their children about mental health.
“Many of us as parents fear that talking about suicide may put those thoughts in our children’s heads. But research shows that it’s safe,” Rogers said.
He said if parents realize their child needs professional help, he recommends an urgent crisis center like the one at The Village, where children can get immediate care from specialists in child behavioral health. No appointment or referral is needed.
The Urgent Crisis Center in Hartford is located at 1680 Albany Ave. and their hours are:
- Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday, 3:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
One can also visit the Wellmore Behavioral Health in Waterbury and the Child and Family Agency in New Britain. More information about them can be found at this link.