Leaders break ground on behavioral unit intended to save young lives
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Bringing together resources and experts under one roof to treat children with behavioral and mental health conditions.
That’s the goal behind the Kisner Foundation and Friends Center for Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness.
On Monday, construction began on the center, with the intention of saving young lives right here in the CSRA.
The renderings below are only a preview of what the center will look like, but it’s the impact that comes inside these walls.
Those involved with the project say it will be a game changer for children and their families.
What is underway could reshape child mental health care access.
“Putting together child psychiatry, child neurology, developmental, behavioral pediatricians and equally important, our colleagues in pediatric rehab, all of those services impact children,” said Dr. Velera Hudson, pediatrician in chief at Wellstar Children’s Hospital. “Many children need more than one of those services, and we think by co-locating and putting them all together, that we’re gonna be able to find new and better ways to serve children and their families.”
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The heartbeat of this center is family. The Kisner Foundation donated $5.3 million for the center bearing its name.
“This would be someone who maybe is going back to school, but needs therapy every afternoon, and there’ll be group therapy and individual therapy offered, and everything kind of locally centralized at the center,” said Brittany Kisner, co-founder of the Kisner Foundation.
Something new here is an intensive outpatient program for child psychiatry.
“That is not something we’re able to offer right now,” said Hudson. “There’s individual therapy offered by our child psychiatry colleagues, but an intensive outpatient program really is a bridge to prevent hospitalization for children who have more extreme needs.”
We wanted to break down how many emergency room visits related to mental health or behavioral disorders for kids under the age of 17 in Richmond County.
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Data from the Georgia Department of Public Health from 2019 to 2023 shows 2019 with the highest at 243 and 2022 at 173.
Hudson says the goal is the end of 2025
She says by putting together services like child neurology and child psychiatry in one location, they’ll be able to find new ways to serve children and their families.
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