Several major public health groups are sounding the alarm, calling for more resources to deal with the skyrocketing number of kids and teens coming into the emergency room with some kind of mental health crisis.
Like other hospitals nationwide, they're seeing a 30% post-pandemic increase in children coming into the emergency room for mental health concerns.
Dr. Willough Jenkins, medical director of emergency and consultation liaison psychiatry at Rady Children's Hospital, says sometimes that can mean up to 30 kids in a day, some as young as 6 years old.Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters. “Sadly, the main reason that children come in, in mental health crisis, are because of suicide. Whether they're having thoughts of suicide or actually having suicide attempts. After that, we do see some children coming in with acting out behaviors, aggressive behaviors," explained Dr. Jenkins.
During the pandemic, Lauren Martin said she questioned whether her son, who was treated at the hospital, was going to survive. Like so many other people, the isolation of the pandemic sent him spiraling, in need of emergency services. “A lot of his behaviors would lead to violent outbursts and violent episodes, the end result of that was self-harm and wanting to end his own life, and actually serious things like putting himself in serious situations that could have possibly killed him," Martin said.
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