Page 13 - Samaritas Our Hands Winter 2024

Steelcase Grant Helps Samaritas Provide

Mental Health Services for Children

“Michigan has just half the child psychiatrists it needs amid health crisis”
Bridge Magazine headline, November 2023.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Surgeon General Vivek
Murthy called today's youth mental health crisis the
"defining public health issue of our time" as more young
people battle mental health challenges and increased
rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness.

Michigan youth are facing a behavioral health crisis.
Sadly, many families can't access the treatment their
children urgently need. The demand for care has surged, but the number of specialized providers hasn't
increased accordingly. Even when care is available for children and adolescents, wait times can be weeks
or months.

The Steelcase Foundation and Samaritas teamed up to expand child and adolescent mental health
treatment capacity in Kent County and beyond. Thanks to a $75,000 three-year grant from the Steelcase
Foundation, Samaritas implemented an innovative behavioral health nurse practitioner extender model to
provide psychiatric assessment and treatment services for children. The Grand Rapids behavioral health
and substance use disorder clinic is growing quickly, with over 140 children ranging in ages from five to
twenty years old helped by the Steelcase grant. Wait times for initial psychiatric assessments are within
one month with two nurse practitioners on staff supervised by a child psychiatric physician.

With additional provider capacity, Samaritas is extending referrals and therapeutic services to our west
Michigan foster care and family preservation teams and clients. Untreated behavioral health conditions
diminish children’s opportunities for academic, social, and occupational success and often follow youth
into adulthood (Citizens Research Council, 2021).

The Samaritas Grand Rapids clinic offers in-person and telehealth services for people of all ages. Please
contact the clinic at 888-529-2969 or complete the online psychiatric services referral form. Samaritas
accepts most commercial insurances.

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