Northwell Health joins effort to improve youth mental health care

Dr. Vera Feuer, medical director, child and adolescent psychiatry, Northwell Health, and Derek Anderson, president of Northwell Northern Westchester Hospital. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

By MELISSA WHITWORTH

After months of research, planning and community outreach, Northwell Health and Northern Westchester Hospital have announced plans to revolutionize the way children and adolescents access mental health care in the community.

The initiative is in collaboration with students, parents, school districts, local non-governmental organizations and local health care providers, and it follows a successful model set up in Long Island led by Dr. Vera Feuer, medical director, child and adolescent psychiatry, Northwell Health. The Long Island initiative came about after parents worked together with Feuer’s team following a series of teenage suicides that devasted their community. 

The results saw a 60 percent decrease in the number of students from partnering school districts going to the emergency room with behavioral health issues. Over 90 percent of families who wanted to be connected with services attended their first appointment arranged and confirmed by the Northwell team. As a result, 98 percent of children and adolescents seen at the behavioral health center are discharged and only 2 percent are hospitalized.

The initiative for NWH is anticipated to provide comprehensive systemic change: expanding outpatient clinics, developing new programs utilizing hospital resources and collaborative care with pediatrics. Newly introduced to the area at NWH will be an ambulatory crisis or urgent care facility and school partnerships across the region. All five local public school districts have signed on to participate in addition to the local private schools. 

Parents and health care providers continue to be alarmed by the rise in mental health conditions and crises nationwide. Prior to the pandemic, screen use and the proliferation of social media were thought to be the chief instigators in the rapid decline of young people’s mental health. But the downturn in mental health was happening before the advent of widespread of social media use: Between 2009 and 2019 there was more than a 40 percent reported increase in suicidal behaviors among high school students, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (TikTok was created in 2016; Snapchat in 2011; Instagram in 2010).

The pandemic was catastrophic for a crisis already in full swing, mental health experts say. A 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revealed that nearly 20 percent of children between the ages of three and 17 in the U.S. experienced mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral challenges. 

There are many barriers to access for mental health care, parents here and nationwide say. Local parents told The Recorder that they have had their children on waiting lists for initial consultations with mental health providers for as long as six months to a year. One provider told a parent their waitlist was so unwieldy they no longer kept one, and asked parents just to keep calling back periodically. Many of those providers don’t take insurance. 

“From counseling to ambulances to hospitalizations to long-term treatment facilities, I had to navigate finding mental health care for two of my four daughters on my own,” says Betsy Crisler Sharma, a mother of four, living in Mount Kisco, who is now working on mental health advocacy alongside her two elder daughters. 

“It was a frightening and lonely and uncertain time, with no coordinated support, and not enough levels of care available. I am thrilled to know that Northwell is changing the landscape of adolescent mental health care in our community so that no parent will have to navigate this journey alone like I did.”

Northwell’s Westchester-based mental health initiative will roll out in four phases. 

The initial phase, beginning this fall, will focus on education and awareness by partnering with local schools and community organizations. The second phase will enhance their existing behavioral health programs by improving literacy and promoting early intervention. In the third phase, in early 2025, the program will expand its reach and open a child and adolescent psychiatric practice, offering comprehensive treatment for young people.

During the final phase, in the summer of 2025, a standalone behavioral health center will open to provide rapid access to care for children and adolescents in crisis. Phase four will introduce an intensive outpatient program to support young people in need of a higher level of care than an outpatient practice but who do not require hospitalization.

“This comes at a critical time, as behavioral health crises among teens continue to rise across the country,” says Derek Anderson, president of Northwell Northern Westchester Hospital. “We look forward to working with schools, community organizations, NGOs and local behavioral health providers to build on the high-quality care they already provide and to strengthen support for the well-being of children and families.”

Northwell officials said the health system has committed to investing $500 million over the next several years to expand pediatric and adolescent behavioral health services across its network in Westchester, Long Island and New York City.

The Northern Westchester Hospital Foundation aims to raise $7 million over the next several months. The hospital’s annual gala Saturday, Nov. 2, will raise funds towards this goal.

In an interview with The Recorder, Feuer said, “The issue  in Westchester and in many other places is the care system is very fragmented and it’s missing a lot of pieces — especially the prevention and the immediate access. Those are the areas where we’re missing the most pieces.” 

At the crisis level of care there is overcrowding — too much need for treatment and not enough providers she said. “The care gets pushed into emergency departments who may or may not have the expertise and the knowledge and the ability to follow up or truly support families with their needs.”

“This program is designed to provide immediate psychiatric support and seamlessly connect patients to the next level of care, including psychotherapy, psychiatry and case management, reducing the burden on emergency services and improving outcomes for families,” she says.

“I  hope this will bring along transformation by having a big emphasis on working with the community and investing in prevention and breaking down silos and stigma.”