Innovative Solutions for Youth Mental Health

Children's hospitals are using bold strategies, community partnerships, and creative workforce initiatives to address the youth mental health crisis.

Published April 29, 2026|
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For years, children’s hospitals have been building mental health into the fabric of care — not as a separate service line, but as a core responsibility that shows up no matter where patients and families interact with the health system.

That work continues to evolve, with hospitals expanding access, strengthening workforce capacity, and responding to changing needs with new models of care.

These strategies often stretch the typical boundaries of hospital care, meeting kids before, during, and after a mental health crisis to ensure they receive essential care at every point in their journey.

Find a collection of these strategies below.

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Advocacy

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New Toolkit to Strengthen Medicaid EPSDT Implementation

An upcoming Children’s Hospital Association resource will help pediatric hospitals identify and authorize mental health services and address gaps in state Medicaid implementation.

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Why Medicaid Matters for Children's Mental Health

Threats to Medicaid coverage put youth mental health care at risk. Learn why preserving access for kids and teens is more urgent than ever.

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Hopeful Conversations to End the Youth Mental Health Crisis

The Speak Our Minds podcast shares what lies ahead on the road to better mental health care for children.

Early Intervention

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Preventing Youth Suicide With Evidence-Based Care

Discover how a quality improvement initiative using the Zero Suicide Framework decreased adolescent patients’ suicidal thoughts by 54% at discharge.

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A Replicable Model for Integrating Behavioral Health

How to turn a fragmented effort into a standardized system across more than a dozen primary care clinics.

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How a Children's Hospital Is Identifying Mental Illness Early

Children's Nebraska is equipping primary care providers to identify mental illness to allow early intervention — and better outcomes.

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Initiative Helps Tweens Navigate Emotions

The Talk to Tweens program gives parents and teachers free tools to have conversations on mental health with middle school children.

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Supporting Infant Mental Health From Day One

A children’s hospital provides mental health services for babies and toddlers during one of the most formative periods of their lives.

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'Our Crown Jewel': A Behavioral Health Intervention That Works

Integrating therapists into primary care clinics helps 10,000 kids through early detection and prompt intervention.

Workforce

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How to Train Staff in De-Escalation and Crisis Management

Asynchronous courses allow hospitals to offer critical violence prevention education to nurses and support staff.

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Standardizing Behavioral Health Care to Improve Safety and Outcomes

By aligning teams around shared tools, real-time communication, and specialized expertise, a children’s hospital achieved significant gains in patient care, staff confidence, and system efficiency.

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A Tiered Response Model for Behavioral Escalations

A scalable strategy brought consistency across hospital sites and improved results.

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De-escalation Training and Documentation Webinar Series

Join CHA's Pediatric Learning Solutions to explore how one hospital created a safer care environment for patients, family, and staff.

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How to Cut OSHA-Recordable Events in Half

A pathway at St. Louis Children’s Hospital decreases workplace violence and length of stay for patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

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This Certification Course Increased Retention for Behavioral Health Staff and Outcomes for Patients

After developing an in-house certification program, behavioral health staff turnover fell by half, patient restraints decreased by 44%, and employee engagement skyrocketed.

Emergency Department

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Mental Health Safety Planning Belongs in the ED

A pediatric emergency physician discusses how evidence-based tools can help providers reshape the ED’s role in mental health care.

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A Tangible Way to Prevent Youth Suicide

Sending handwritten notes to pediatric patients following a suicide attempt can reduce suicide rates.

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A Documentary on Mental Health: 'The Wait to Nowhere'

This short-form documentary challenges lawmakers to acknowledge the mental health crisis—and act now before more children are lost.

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Decreasing Behavioral Health Unit Readmissions

Dayton Children's Hospital decreased its seven-day behavioral health unit readmission rate by nearly 50%.

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Strategies to Reduce Behavioral Health Boarding Time

One children’s hospital reduced boarding times of behavioral health patients by 36% with changes to processes, technology, and staffing.

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Preventing Mental Health Crises and Emergency Department Visits

A crisis response program reduces emergency department visits by meeting patients in their homes during a crisis.

Community Collaborations

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Trust First: Building Behavioral Health Access with an Indigenous Nation

A personal connection helped expand developmental care for children.

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Promoting Healthy Digital Media Habits Within Families

One pediatrician is leading research and program efforts to understand the challenges and benefits of digital media behaviors among families.

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Treating the Effects of Violence

A children’s hospital brings behavioral health care into schools to address widespread violence in its community.

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A Community Approach to Improving Access to Behavioral Health Services

Learn how one children's hospital sought to build community solutions to address both mental and behavioral health needs, as well as social determinants of health.

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Prevention Through Intervention: A School-Based Behavioral Health Program

A system of behavioral health centers increases access and intervention for students in more than 280 New York schools.

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Preventing Youth Suicide National Collaborative

The collaborative is part of Children Hospital Association's ongoing work to address the youth mental health crisis.

Expanding Access

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Youth Suicide Intervention Clinic Has 100% Success Rate

The pilot clinic trains future providers to save lives today.

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Behavioral Health Care Continuum All Under One Roof

A new facility with a new approach will provide comprehensive care for the whole child in one place.

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Meeting the Growing Demand for Eating Disorder Care

A new program had a 7,000% increase in patient visits in just two years.