How Psychiatric Urgent Care Helps Improve Access to Mental and Behavioral Health Care

Seattle Children’s Psychiatric Urgent Care Clinic opened September 30 to provide same-day in-person and telemedicine mental and behavioral health assessment and intervention for Washington youth ages 4 through 17. We checked in with Laura Knapp, Vice President of Mental and Behavioral Health Services and Kashi Arora, Program Director of Mental and Behavioral Health Service Line to learn more about why the clinic was opened and what the experience has been so far.

Question: Seattle Children’s just opened the first pediatric-focused Psychiatric Urgent Care in Washington. What led to the decision to start this new service?

Laura: This is part of Seattle Children’s commitment to building out the pediatric behavioral health continuum of care and addressing the youth mental health crisisWe see approximately 3,000 visits annually to our Emergency Department (ED) for mental and behavioral health and about 60 percent of kids can be well supported in a less-acute setting than the ED. Prior to opening Psychiatric Urgent Care, families in Washington experiencing a mental health crisis had very scarce options for urgent crisis care outside of an ED.

Kashi: As a former member of our Emergency Department Mental Health (EDMH) team, I completely agree — for a long time we have wanted a way to offer urgent mental health support without needing the ED and now we have the ability to do exactly that! Psychiatric Urgent Care is physically located at Seattle Children’s Magnuson, which was donor-funded and specially designed to support youth with behavioral health needs and/or autism. Because we also offer virtual visits, the clinic serves all of Washington.

Q: What has the patient/family experience been at the clinic? 

Laura: So far, families and our community are expressing gratitude for the service and are excited about access to necessary urgent mental health care. We are constantly innovating and improving so we are especially grateful for family feedback during the planning process and in these first few weeks of being open.

Kashi: Our case managers are doing follow-up phone calls with all patients and families seen in Psychiatric Urgent Care and that's exactly what they're hearing so far — lots of appreciation for the service and really positive feedback so far.

Q: How have the first few weeks been? Have you seen any early trends or themes?

Kashi: We’re encouraged that the right patients are coming to the clinic; because people are doing a good job picking Psychiatric Urgent Care versus an emergency department, we've been able to meet their needs and support them in next steps. Notably, we’ve seen lots of children under the age of 13, which isn’t surprising given the significant lack of mental health resources for younger children.

Laura: It's been great to see, and our ED mental health volumes are still high, which is typical for this time of year. We could see many of those patients in Psychiatric Urgent Care and have capacity to see more patients virtually, so we are hoping more patients and families take advantage of this resource.

Q: It’s unique to be able to see patients virtually and in-person — is there a benefit to one over the other?

Laura: The huge benefit of virtual is that families anywhere and everywhere in Washington can use it. Our goal is to see patients in their own communities, and having virtual access supports that goal.

Kashi: Another benefit is that our care doesn’t change whether it’s in person or virtual. Patients still see a pediatric mental health therapist, a case manager, and if clinically indicated, a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Q: If you were able to share one thing with community providers about how Psychiatric Urgent Care can help their patients, what would it be?

Kashi: When you have a patient who needs urgent same-day mental health care, please don’t hesitate to direct them to get in line for a virtual visit or schedule a same-day in person appointment. We can see youth ages 4 through 17, including youth with autism and/or intellectual/developmental disability. We want to be able to meet youth and families where they are as well as learn and grow — please don't hesitate to reach out to me to give us feedback!

Laura: Psychiatric Urgent Care — including the virtual option — is a truly innovative part of Seattle Children’s ongoing commitment to mental and behavioral health as an inextricable part of child health. It is just the latest example of our continuing effort to reach children and families with the right care, at the right time, in the right place. We are paying close attention to the demand and capacity of this service — so we can continue to evaluate if the service needs to grow to meet demand.