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There’s a new Mental Health unit at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital and doctor’s have been learning a lot, so far.

“We’re seeing a lot of the effects of the pandemic,” said Dr. Sarah Edwards during an interview with Channel 11. “We know it has been a very stressful year on kids, on families, and so we are seeing higher rates of depression and anxiety.” Dr. Edwards serves as the pediatric psychiatrist at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital. She continues on the variety of conditions they’ve already seen, “physical and sexual abuse, but we also know things like parental divorce and parental incarceration are traumatic experiences as well.”

The new facility answers a need within our communities. As we’ve discussed before, our kids have been dealing with the effects of COVID-19 just as much as us. According to Yellow Brick Road, social interaction is one of the most important pieces of child development. Given the circumstances of the pandemic, those interactions have been limited. Couple that with some of the trepidation or chaos that could be contagious in their households, and you could really get a sense of what our kids may have been facing. It’s great to see what Dr. Edwards and the rest of her staff are accomplishing at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital. “We know that one-in-five youths have a diagnosable mental health disorder. And specifically regarding trauma, two out of three kids before the age of 16 will have had some sort of traumatic experience,” she continued.

Kids are treated at the facility for about a week before doctors organize an aftercare plan to send them home with. Its 16-bed facility sees most of its patients from Emergency Room referrals. Please seek help if you feel that your child is in need.

 

New Children’s Mental Health Facility In Baltimore Responds To Post-Pandemic Childhood Trauma  was originally published on 92q.com