ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A new mental health clinic for children and teens is set to open at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester.

Leaders are calling it a momentous day and a response to a major pediatric mental health crisis. The clinic, Brighter Days, will provide family-centered care and is expected to treat 3,000 children a year. It will have 15 patient rooms, 30 caregivers, and a new Ronald McDonald lounge for families to relax.

“We’ve been struggling with escalating children’s mental health needs for more than ten years,” said Dr. Michael Scharf, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at URMC. “This is only the second mental health urgent care for kids in New York state and the only place of its kind in our region, and really on this side of the Hudson.”

The Brighter Days Foundation donated $1 million to help support the clinic. The goal is to avoid long wait times for outpatient services in the emergency room, while also freeing up space there.

“Finding timely mental health care has been an additional burden requiring families to navigate a complex system at a time where they’re most vulnerable,” said Jill Halterman, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Frank York of the Brighter Days Foundation, said: “We’ve all seen or are aware of the significant increase in mental health crises amongst young people that was there already because of social media and it got even worse because of the pandemic.”

Blaine Hayward Collins, a former psychiatric emergency patient at URMC, celebrated his 14th birthday in the existing psychiatric unit. He contributed ideas for improvement via a handwritten letter.

“I hope that here at least they’ll have bigger beds, or maybe bigger couches, blankets that kids can use and stuff that makes the kids feel at home instead of having to be there for so long, one night staying there all night or even days at a time,” Collins said. “My message is, don’t quit the walk, keep going, keep pushing.”

The clinic opens on July 15. If someone feels like they or their child needs help, the best thing to do is call the UR Medicine Crisis Call Line. There, you’ll talk to a mental health professional who can help determine what you need and if urgent care is the right place. The center doesn’t accept appointments and patients are seen on a walk-in basis every day between noon and 7 p.m., seven days a week.

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