A NEW NATIONAL report ranked Massachusetts best in the country for child welfare, but buried in the report is one significant danger sign: Massachusetts is one of the worst in the country when it comes to rates of depression and anxiety among children and teenagers. According to the Annie E Casey Foundation’s 2022 Kids Count data […]
pediatric mental health
Posted inHealth Care
Hospitals help mental health patients – by sending them away
THE 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL was stuck in a hospital emergency room waiting for mental health services, after she found a sharp object in school and tried to hurt a teacher. The girl was struggling to reintegrate after the COVID pandemic and had been suffering from anxiety and depression. Long waits for emergency psychiatric care at hospitals […]
Posted inHealth Care
For pediatric mental health patients, days stuck in the ER
JILL CUMMINGS’ SON is a smart, loving 13-year-old with serious impulse control problems and mental health diagnoses that include ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder. The West Boylston teen, who is not being named to protect his privacy, lives in a residential special educational school – an environment in which he often becomes destructive, pulling fire […]