An annoucement from Seattle Children’s Hospital October 2024
Seattle Children’s has opened the first pediatric-focused psychiatric urgent care clinic in Washington to address the ongoing mental health crisis. Now open and serving children and teens ages 4-17, the urgent care clinic offers services including virtual appointments for families experiencing mental or behavioral distress. See the first statistic below, showing the critical need for virtual services.
Seattle Children’s Psychiatric Urgent Care Clinic offers same-day in-person and virtual (video) visits for children and teens ages 4 through 17 in Washington state who need urgent mental health support but do not need the services of an emergency department (ED). Our team of pediatric-focused licensed mental health therapists, family advocates/case managers, psychiatric advanced practice providers (APPs) and medical assistants provide crisis assessment, initial care recommendations and referrals to follow-up care in the community.
-
54% of counties in Washington state don’t have a single child and adolescent psychiatrist, and there are just 12 for every 100,000 kids in the state.
-
Due to a lack of mental health resources, many kids visit the emergency department (ED). As many as 60% of those families are discharged home after being assessed in the ED, meaning that may not be the appropriate level of care for them.
-
Suicide continues to be the 2nd leading cause of death in kids ages 10 to 24, locally and nationally.
-
Psychiatric Urgent Care Clinic provides same-day, in-person, and virtual (video) mental and behavioral health crisis assessment and intervention, but do not need the services of an emergency department, for Washington kids and teens.
-
Virtual appointments will be available to any child or teen in Washington, increasing access to care and bringing expert mental and behavioral health care to more kids who need it, particularly in Eastern Washington where there are fewer mental health resources.
Learn more at https://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics/psychiatry-and-behavioral-medicine/psychiatric-urgent-care/.
