Crafting calm from crisis
May 14, 2025
In Psychiatric Times, our behavioral health designers write about how care and planning concepts shape the design of crisis centers
In any given year, about 1 in 4 Americans—almost 60 million individuals—experience a behavioral health issue according to Mental Health America (MHA) statistics.?As a result, we are seeing a spike in the volume of those in a mental health crisis arriving at hospital emergency departments, from mental illness or substance use disorders.?About half of all children who come to an ED with a mental health issue end up boarding in the ED due to a lack of inpatient beds, according to data.
Recent data suggests that more than half of adults with a mental illness (about 28 million) did not receive treatment. Stand-alone psychiatric EDs may work for a hospital campus, but not every community has such extensive health infrastructure. Thus, crisis stabilization centers have a key role to play in addressing this rise in mental health crises at the point of need.
