DAYTON — A recent CDC survey found that about one-third of Ohio high school students say their mental health is not good at all or most of the time.
Research is also showing that in some ways, more Ohio children are struggling with mental health than in the past.
Health Policy Ohio finds that almost 12% of Ohio children have anxiety while nationwide, approximately 10% of children experience anxiety.
Ohio is also seeing an increase in the number of high school students considering suicide. In 2023, that number was 18%, up two points from 2019.
As more and more children and teenagers receive mental health diagnosis, medical professionals are finding new ways to provide safe care.
“Mental health is the crisis of our kids generation,” said Dr. Kelly Blankenship, Dayton Children’s Hospital Associate Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral Health.
As a response, Dayton Children’s has opened the new Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness.
The facility costs between $108 million to $110 million and was funded by several factions, including $25 million from the state of Ohio; Philanthropy gave $24 million; Hospital Capital contributed $57 million and the Department of Housing and Urban Development gave $2 million.
“We are this region’s children’s hospital and if we don’t step up to meet this need, then who will,” said Dayton Children’s President and CEO Debbie Feldman.
The new facility features state-of-the-art design elements to promote healing.
It has 48 private patient rooms with security details in every corner, doors with special sensors that cost about $10,000 each, and three large outdoor spaces with rooms built around them to allow light to shine into every room.
It also has multi-purpose areas for fitness, play and therapy.
Piper, the facility’s therapy dog, is ready to greet patients and help with their journeys.
“We were really seeing a need, a mental health need, the need for more access, prior to Covid. But Covid just…that was gasoline on a fire,” said Blankenship.
Last year, Dayton Children’s saw more than 9,000 children for mental health needs, that’s more than a 30% increase from previous years.
“It is critical for our community to have this at this point,” said Dr. Tristyn Ball.
Ball is the director of Prevention and Early Intervention for Montgomery County ADAMHS.
“Young people that have Medicaid are more likely to not be visiting the emergency department compared to those with commercial insurance. There are more providers that accept Medicaid than those that accept commercial insurance. So we have young people that have waited upwards of three or more months to get in and see a mental health professional,” she said.
For children in an immediate crisis, finding a place isn’t always so easy.
“If we cannot find a mental health unit, if ours is full which it almost always is and the other ones in the state are, then we’ll admit them to one of our medical beds, somebody will sit with them so they stay safe until a mental health bed opens up somewhere in the state. In the month of March in 2023, we had 212 kids waiting in a medical bed somewhere in the state,” said Blankenship.
This facility will give more care close to home.
For providers, tackling mental health goes deep and no two situations are exactly alike.
“It’s not a stand-alone service. We know that kids who come in with diabetes might have mental health issues. We know that children who are great at sports or injure themselves might have mental health issues. We’re trying to embed it in the entire array of services we offer here at Dayton Children’s,” said Feldman.
The center will begin taking patients on July 15, and is expecting to open the second floor in January as the need grows.