Children’s Minnesota to open first ever inpatient mental health unit

Children’s Minnesota is getting ready to open its first ever inpatient mental health unit.

The 22-bed unit will be located at the hospital in St. Paul, in a wing that previously served as an overflow area for general patient care.

Dr. Marc Gorelick, president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota, said it is part of the hospital system’s plan to reimagine mental health care for children.

“I have seen that this need has been growing for years but it has become exponential in the recent past,” Gorelick said.

Gorelick said 1,800 children showed up to Children’s Minnesota emergency departments suffering from mental health crises last year, a 30% increase from the year before.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, suicide is now the second leading cause of death for young people age 10 to 24 in our state.

“We are seeing the largest number ever in our facilities of kids and youth for suicide attempts, for severe depression and anxiety and other mental health crises. In 2021, in our health system, suicidal thoughts entered the top five diagnoses for the first time ever. Think about that,” Gorelick said. “Because of insufficient resources in the community, these kids come in and they end up spending days or even weeks in our emergency rooms or in our medical inpatient units, waiting for a psychiatric bed to open up to get the care they need.”

Children’s Minnesota started planning for the new inpatient mental health unit four years ago.

The hospital system is making a $40 million investment in its expansion of mental health services, thanks in part to $7 million from donors. The money funds the new inpatient unit, along with two new day treatment programs in Lakeville and Roseville.

The inpatient mental health unit expects to serve more than a thousand children per year.

Most kids are expected to stay for six to eight days at a time.

Each private bedroom has two beds — one for the child and another for a parent.

Children’s Minnesota noted it will be one of the few such facilities in the state and country to allow a parent or guardian to stay overnight with their child.

“We as parents go home not knowing what happens in a psych unit, not knowing if they’ll be comforted if they are crying. Unless it’s happened to you, it’s hard to understand the depths of the feelings when we leave our children behind,” said Sue Abderholden, executive director of NAMI Minnesota. “Allowing parents to stay to reassure their children and themselves is a huge step forward.”

The new unit features large windows to allow in natural light, as well as calming colors and woodsy watercolor scenes on the walls.

“We’ve tried to design this space so it doesn’t look institutionalized,” said Dr. Gigi Chawla, chief of general pediatrics. “And everything about this unit is designed for safety.”

She showed 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the foam doors leading from each bedroom into the private bathrooms, which can easily tear away from the walls thanks to magnets on either end.

“One of the things that was so surprising for me to hear is what a danger doors are for kids, what a danger the bathroom space is for kids who have had a suicide attempt or have that ideation,” Chawla explained.

The rooms also have smart control pads built into the walls, allowing children to choose their own lighting color schemes and ambience.

One wing of the unit is specifically for teens, with the other side for younger kids.

“It’ll then be the first unit on the east metro to serve kids as young as six years of age,” Chawla said.

There are community spaces for art therapy, private consult rooms, seclusion suites and outdoor areas for children to play.

The new inpatient mental health unit is set to open Nov. 29.