May 4, 2021

As we continue to advancing towards a reconstructed future filled with hope and anticipation, we also recognize the experiences the past year has had on our collective mental health.

According to Dr. Karin Price, Chief of Psychology for Texas Children’s: “Due to increased illness, mortality, bereavement, economic losses, school closures, social isolation, and prolonged uncertainty, adults are reporting significantly increased symptoms of anxiety and depression since the start of the pandemic. Moreover, we are beginning to see evidence that these signs of distress are not transient or short-lived, and that they have not decreased as the length of the pandemic has worn on.”

Further supporting the mental health and well-being of our strong and resilient team, Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Well-Being is recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month, during which we will be promoting a variety of programs and resources to help our team members purposefully commit to their own health and happiness.

Below are some key highlights of available resources. Additional tools and resources to confidentially support your mental health can also be found here.

  • Daily Mental Health and Wellness Survey
    From May 17 – 21, you will be invited to participate in an optional daily survey that will allow us to better assess the well-being of our team members and inform future outreach. This brief survey will be available to employees through the same daily screening application used before entering our facilities, in addition to our Connect site for those working in remote locations. Responses will be kept confidential and only shared with members of our Well-Being team.
  • Mental Health Online Screening: Free online screening of mental health conditions with resources and tools provided to help you understand and improve your mental health. Access this free resource at The Mental Health America website.
  • Mental Health Webinars
    The EAP team, in partnership with Cigna, will be offering Texas Children’s team members a variety of webinars on mental health and personal wellness. To register for the events listed below, please click here.

    • Overview of Behavioral Health resources
      Tuesday, May 11, from 12 to 1 p.m.
    • Burnout
      Wednesday, May 26, from 12 to 1 p.m.
    • Mental Health First Aid
      Monthly one-day online training session in HealthStream, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
      Click here for more details.

For questions or further assistance, please contact our EAP and Well-Being team at 832-824-3327. You can also visit our EAP website where you will find information on additional confidential programs, virtual care options and resources to support your mental health and well-being.

October 12, 2020

October 10 is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual World Mental Health Day. This year’s World Mental Health Day comes at a time when nearly every aspect of our daily lives has changed dramatically because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the pandemic, we have had to adjust to a new normal. Most of us have experienced stress both in our personal and professional lives during this unprecedented time. We often stress over our health, finances, raising children, taking care of elderly parents, and coping with uncertainty or the unknown of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there are many different emotional responses during different phases of a crisis, disaster or a public health emergency,” said Texas Children’s Chief of Psychology Dr. Karin Price. “While we work among health care heroes every day, even they are not immune to anxiety, stress, discouragement and difficulty coping with uncertainty. Hope begins with open, honest conversations about mental and emotional health between trusted family members, friends, colleagues and other loved ones. If someone close to you seems to be struggling or asks for help, be there for support. You don’t have to be an expert; just listening can help a lot. If you hear something beyond your ability to help, the EAP is available to support you.”

Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program: We’re here to help

Chronic stress over time can have effects on our bodies and make us feel exhausted. While we can’t eliminate stress from our environment, we can manage our reactions to it. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at Texas Children’s (833-EAP-PLUS) is designed to help all employees and eligible family members resolve personal and job-related problems as well as promote emotional health, wellness and quality of life at work and home.

“The key to stress management is choosing where to focus your energy,” said Allison Bell, Manager of the Employee Assistance Program at Texas Children’s. “You get to choose what thoughts, emotions, and problems to focus on. We want to respond, not react. We know that everyone has different ways of coping with stress. What works for me, may not work for you. The key to stress management is finding the tools and techniques that help you and using them daily. If you want to reduce your stress levels, you need to be diligent in daily practice.”

In order to encourage team members to start a daily stress management practice, EAP developed resiliency strategies to help you manage stress and boost resiliency. To get started, please review this Stress Management Resources document which provides a variety of ways to help reduce stress. Keep in mind that building resiliency will not only help reduce stress but it will also reduce anxiety, provide your body with energy, promote good sleep patterns and provide greater satisfaction with life.

For more information about EAP resources, stress management and World Mental Health Day, click here to visit the EAP website.

August 10, 2020

One in four youth in the U.S. have a diagnosable mental health disorder that often is a direct response to what is happening in their lives. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with many other societal factors, have affected all of us, but for children who already suffer from anxiety or depression, the emotional impact can be severely magnified.

Many pediatricians are seeing more children and adolescents with mental health problems, and they are playing an increasingly significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in young people. While numerous surveys of pediatricians indicate they feel they lack the necessary training and skill to manage their patients’ mild to moderate mental health care disorders, a new program at Texas Children’s is providing the support they need.

On May 18, Texas launched the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN), a new statewide pediatric mental health initiative that Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine are partnering on for our region. This state-funded program provides pediatricians, family physicians and other health care providers direct and immediate access to a pediatric mental health specialist to help them manage their patients’ mental health care needs more effectively.

“We want our pediatricians to feel more comfortable managing the mental health care needs of their patients,” said Jennifer Evans, assistant director of the Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics and the Psychiatry Service at Texas Children’s and associate program director for the Central Operational Support Hub (COSH) for the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium that oversees the state implementation of CPAN. “Pediatricians at our TCPs and The Centers for Children and Women can collaborate directly with our CPAN team about their patient’s plan of care instead of having to refer their patient to our child psychiatry clinic where they would be placed on a lengthy waitlist.”

When a pediatrician calls the CPAN hotline (1-888-901-CPAN Monday – Friday from 8-5 excluding holidays) to reach the Baylor hub, a Texas Children’s behavioral specialist, licensed counselor or licensed clinical social worker will answer the phone. Depending on the patient’s needs, they will connect the pediatrician to a Texas Children’s psychiatrist who can provide real time consultation on various mental health issues. For instance, if there is a question about a patient’s medication, they can advise whether to adjust the medication dosage. The CPAN team can also help pediatricians develop a behavioral or safety plan for patients with depression or suicidal tendencies, and other mental health disorders. Pediatricians can also call the CPAN hotline to access educational resource materials on mental health.

“Through CPAN, our pediatricians are given the knowledge, skill, training, and support they need to address and treat mild to moderate mental illness,” said Dr. Laurel Williams, medical director for COSH and Division Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry. “If we can collaborate more directly with our PCPs, our psychiatry team will have greater access for youth and families that need more regular, intensive specialty care.”

Baylor College of Medicine is one of 11 centers participating in the CPAN initiative. Each Department of Psychiatry across the state of Texas has a region that they are responsible for supporting. Baylor and Texas Children’s are providing support to the seven counties in the Greater Houston area. However, there are times when our CPAN team has provided mental health consultation and training to pediatricians in other parts of the state including El Paso.

Extending our reach in the community

Along with the CPAN initiative, Texas Children’s psychiatrists also provide mental health care support to patients and children in the community in other ways. Through a 4-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), our teams at Texas Children’s and Health and Human Services are able to provide more comprehensive evidence informed treatments for youth with serious mental health disorders (SMD) like bipolar and psychosis. The grant provides assistance in building infrastructure that can be maintained beyond the life of the grant through cultivating collaborations and coalitions across important teams that assist children with SMD.

“We transfer 6 to 7 kids per week to inpatient units and these are mainly bipolar patients who are having a really hard time,” Evans said. “SAMHSA has changed the dynamic of care for these patients. Instead of sending them to the hospital, we can have intensive services in the home. It’s like an intensive outpatient service in your home.”

As part of the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program, our psychiatric team is also collaborating with various independent school districts – Houston, Spring, Conroe, Pasadena, Center for Success Charter School and Sheldon – to provide in-school behavioral telemedicine care to at-risk children and adolescents that include free comprehensive assessments and up to four clinical sessions either with a physician or a therapist.

“Through our CPAN, TCHATT and SAMHSA partnerships, our psychiatry section will be able to grow by three physicians and over 10 licensed therapists allowing our team to provide these new services without taking away from our current services,” Williams said. “In collaboration with Dr. Kirti Saxena, our interim chief of psychiatry at Texas Children’s, we have six physicians, along with our child psychiatry fellows, social work interns and trainees who will spend a portion of their time working on these programs to ensure every child gets the care they need.”

June 15, 2020

The world looks very different than it did just months ago. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has added a layer of uncertainty and stress to Texas Children’s providers, patients and the community. In response to this crisis, the Texas Children’s Psychology Service has expanded access to its programs and services to ensure our patients and providers receive the mental health support that they need.

On March 23, Psychology launched video visits and completed over 120 e-Health visits in the first week alone. One week later the volumes had doubled and have been climbing ever since. By the end of April the service was 17 percent above budgeted appointments for the month. Since launching e-Health visits in March, Psychology received 127 COVID-specific referrals and completed over 2,942 video visits which included both COVID and non-COVID related appointments thanks to the service’s e-Health capabilities.

“We owe the successful transition to e-Health in Psychology to our clinic staff and providers,” said Manny Hill, practice administrator for Psychology. “Their adaptability and steadfast commitment to our patients allowed us to completely change our care model in such a short amount of time.”

Supporting our patients

Beginning in March, Psychology added COVID-Related Psychological Distress e-Health appointments for patients seen at any location throughout the Texas Children’s system. This includes children and adolescents experiencing difficulties with anxiety, stress, or mood, as well as preschoolers with behavioral difficulties.

“We know that uncertainty, disrupted routines, social isolation, and parental stress impact children of all ages,” said Dr. Karin Price, chief of Psychology at Texas Children’s. “Our goal is to ensure that any child experiencing distress related to COVID-19 has access to a mental health professional who can support coping and resilience during this unprecedented time.”

Any providers who encounter pediatric patients with these concerns should place an Epic order for Referral to Psychology. Any patients referred for “COVID Related Distress” will be contacted for scheduling within 48 hours of referral.

Supporting our patient care providers

The Psychology Section has also partnered with the Practitioner Health and Well-Being Committee to launch the PARALLEL Program for Peer Support. This program is focused on providing emotional respite and support for frontline health care workers at Texas Children’s. The PARALLEL Program offers an opportunity to be coached in managing work-related stress brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. Dr. Gia Washington leads the program as Texas Children’s chief well-being officer.

“It has been a blessing to participate and support co-workers through the PARALLEL program,” said Carolina Coronel, a provider supporting the PARALLEL program. “A few minutes listening to someone can make a big difference in their lives; we all cope differently, but we all are meant to be social beings. This program has brought what many of us have been seeking: being heard.”

If you are a Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Staff provider and would like to access this support, please contact the Well-Being phone line at 832-822-9355 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday and request to speak with a PARALLEL Provider. You can contact the Well-Being phone line for support as often as you need to during management of the COVID-19 crisis.

“While the COVID-19 health pandemic can be overwhelming at times, our response to the stress will make us stronger as One Amazing Team,” added Price.

May 28, 2019

 

The Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry recently hosted its Third Annual Mental Health Awareness Week Celebration. Events took place at each of our Texas Children’s Hospital campuses and were multidisciplinary collaborations between numerous Texas Children’s departments and programs, bringing together experts from:

  • Psychology
  • Trauma and Grief Center
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Autism Center
  • Social Work
  • Child Life
  • Employee Assistance Program

The theme of the day was “It’s Okay to Say …,” highlighting the importance for children to be able to acknowledge and be mindful of their feelings. Vibrant information booths were decorated to represent the different characters/emotions featured in Disney’s animated film, “Inside Out:” Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger. Arts, crafts and activities were all designed to encourage children to identify and express an emotion. At the Disgust booth, for example, children could place their hands in a box, where they’d feel the squish of cold noodles or the wrinkled skin of a prune, and were then asked to describe how the sensation made them feel. At the Fear table, children were asked to draw a fearful face and decorate it while discussing different ways to cope with being afraid.

There was also an extensive parent resource table with materials from all the event’s participating programs and departments, as well as community partners outside the Texas Children’s system. These resources included information on:

  • Helping children grieve
  • Inpatient psychology
  • Depression/anxiety support
  • Finding mental health providers
  • Postpartum depression
  • Preparing children for adulthood
  • Suicide prevention
  • Support groups and other programs

At our Texas Medical Center campus celebration, the guest speaker was Marlon Lizama, poet, writer, artist, author, dancer and co-founder of Iconoclast Artists, a program that focuses on empowering youth in underserved schools and incarcerated youth through the arts. Lizama spoke to the audience about his personal journey with mental health and how through creative writing as a teenager he was first encouraged to recognize and explore his emotions. He also told the assembled workers and care givers that he had been the kind of child who they help every day and applauded the work they do to help children acknowledge and be mindful of their feelings, and to help parents recognize their children’s mental health needs.

September 18, 2018

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and along with continuing to inform people about warning signs, Texas Children’s has recently elevated our prevention tactics with the use of the Columbia Suicide Screening Rating Scale (C-SSRS).

“Texas Children’s Hospital recognizes that our team, our system has an essential role to play in helping young people and their families who may be struggling with mental health problems and suicidal thoughts or actions,” said the Chief of Psychiatry at Texas Children’s Hospital, Dr. Laurel Williams. “Over the past 18 months our Psychiatry, Social Work, Psychology, Nursing and Pediatrician partners have been improving our assessment and care for these young people.”

According to the Columbia Lighthouse Project, C-SSRS supports suicide risk assessment through a series of simple, plain-language questions. The answers help users identify whether someone is at risk for suicide, assess the severity and immediacy of that risk, and gauge the level of support that the person needs.

Texas Children’s is currently using the C-SSRS in all three emergency rooms for all youth over the age of 11 since March 2018, and to date we have screened more than 1,700 adolescents. Individuals who screen positive are given specific treatment plans based on the level of severity, including either further assessments by our psychiatry team or our partners, Mental Health Solutions. Mental Health Solutions is an outside team of social workers who will come to our hospital emergency rooms to assist parents. Their health care teams also locate appropriate locations for inpatient psychiatric care within Houston and surrounding counties for youth needing such specialty services.

“Additionally, the inpatient teams have undergone increased training for nurses and patient sitters in order to better address mental health needs for patients with either suicidal thoughts/actions or aggressive behaviors,” Dr. Williams said. “A safety sweep checklist was developed and is employed for any young person identified as having suicidal thoughts or actions to improve the care environment for them while admitted to our care.”

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States among adolescents between the ages of 15 and 24. This is more than cancer, diabetes, cardiac and neurologic diseases and yet there is still a stigma attached to suicide. Over 450,000 emergency rooms visits annually are secondary to individuals who have self-inflicted injuries.

“This screening process has allowed our team at Texas Children’s Hospital to act on the information received to intervene prior to a suicide attempt,” Williams said. “A treatment plan is also designed to avert harm and improve the patient’s mental health.”

Future plans for C-SSRS include screening other localities within our system such as specialty and general pediatric clinics in conjunction with depression screening.

Suicide is preventable and overall, mental health disorders do have effective treatments. We encourage our entire team to fight against the stigma. For those who might be experiencing suicidal thoughts we encourage everyone to consider the following resources:

  • Emergency or urgent needs – 1-800 273-TALK (8255)
  • Texas Children’s Hospital’s Psychiatry Clinic, For outpatient assessments and treatment – 832-822-3750
  • Texas Children’s Hospital Employee Assistance Program – 832-824-3327

Click here to learn more about suicide prevention. Click here to become more involved in suicide prevention awareness.

January 27, 2015

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One in five Americans has a mental illness and many are reluctant to seek help or might not know where to turn for care. On top of that, the symptoms of mental illness can be difficult to detect. Even when friends and family of someone who appears to be developing a mental illness can tell that something is amiss, they might not know how to intervene or direct the person to proper treatment, which means that all too often, those in need of mental health services do not get them until it is too late.

Here at Texas Children’s we are working to build a community that is highly educated about mental illness and extremely compassionate toward those who might be experiencing it. One of the main ways we are going about creating this community is by offering a world-renowned course that helps people identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders. Called Mental Health First Aid, the 8-hour course teaches people how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.

The course introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health concerns, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments. It uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis, select interventions and provide initial help. It also helps connect people to professional, peer and social supports as well as self-help resources.

Jill Fragoso, director of employee health and wellness, took the Mental Health First Aid course a year ago, and said it was invaluable to her professionally and personally.

“It provided me with a toolkit and an action plan that I can use if I ever find myself in a situation where I am dealing with a person with a mental disorder,” said Fragoso, who is also a registered nurse. “It also helped educate me on what is and what isn’t a mental disorder so that I can better determine how to help someone.”

Terese Walsh, senior organizational development consultant, said the course cleared up some misconceptions she had about what to say and do to support someone with a mental illness.

“I encourage everyone to take it,” she said of the course. “It was well done and provided me with valuable information.”

Mental Health First Aid was created in 2001 by Betty Kitchener, a nurse specializing in health education, and Anthony Jorm, a mental health literacy professor. Kitchener and Jorm run Mental Health First Aid™ Australia, a national non-profit health promotion charity focused on training and research. The United States is just one of the many countries that have adapted the program.

Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program started offering the program to its employees free of charge in 2014. So far, feedback to the program “has been fantastic,” said Brent LoCaste-Wilken, program manager of the Employee Assistance Program. “Our goal is to get as many people trained as possible,” he added.

This year there will be three opportunities to take the course, the first being from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 17, in the Pavilion for Women fourth-floor conference center. The second course will be broken up into two four-hour sessions. The first session of the second course will be from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, May 13. Both sessions will be held in the Pavilion for Women fourth-floor conference center. The last course will be from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 4, in the Pavilion for Women fourth-floor conference center.

To sign up for one of the Mental Health First Aid courses, go to the Learning Academy on Connect or contact the Employee Assistance Program at Ext. 4-3327 or eap@texaschildrens.org.