Mental Health 911: Advocating for the Integration of Behavioral Health Services in Pediatric Hospital Emergency Departments

The coronavirus disease pandemic of 2019 has led to increased concern in mental health needs among pediatric populations. As the number emergency department visits have increased, so need for integrated behavioral services hospitals. This paper describes a standard care and benefits providing hospital settings. Trauma Mental Health Counseling Program, Hurt-2-Healing (H2H™) was developed implemented Level-1 served total 1,523 trauma patients their caregivers since 2021. program established new hospital-based healthcare caregivers. A questionnaire evaluate efficacy within domains such as openness seeking counseling, psychoeducation, helpfulness ability cope with traumatic injury. majority (83%) patients/caregivers had no previous counseling experience prior admittance. Questionnaire responses indicated that after receiving services, felt more aware children’s reported being open future child. Further, most respondents were strong agreement during stay helpful. These results highlight for, benefit of, integrating