Center to treat increasing mental health disorders among Arizona children

The College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University will open a health center which specializes in the treatment and prevention of child and adolescent mental health disorders, Dean Bernadette Melnyk announced. The center, which is located at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, will open Nov. 2.

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), more than 2.5 million of the 42 million children and teens in the U.S. have suffered from clinical depression in the last year. Due to a critical shortage of child psychiatrists, only 20-25 percent of children with mental health and behavioral problems receive treatment. An IOM and National Research Council report in 2009 said these disorders cost the U.S. $247 billion annually and have become as common as fractured limbs among children and adolescents.

Melnyk, a pediatric and child-family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, said primary care providers (PCPs) see 75 percent of children with mental health and behavioral problems and are in a unique position to manage their cases. “However, heavy case loads limit their capacity and time to treat all patients in need,” Melnyk says. “In Arizona, five of the 15 counties do not have child psychiatrists to which PCPs can refer their patients.”

The new center, named the Southwest Health Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child-Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Disorders, is located within the ASU Health Center at 500 N. 3rd Street in Nursing and Health Building One. It is funded in part by a grant from United Healthcare.

The Southwest Health Center has a team of highly experienced psychiatric/mental health child-family nurse practitioners and psychologists to help address this critical health care need.

The center offers:

• Comprehensive mental health evaluation of children and teens for depression and/or anxiety disorders,

• Comprehensive evidence-based treatment, including cognitive behavior therapy and cognitive-behavioral skills building,

• Medication management and monitoring,

• Family and group therapy, and

• Preventive intervention programs for children and teens with high stress levels and those at risk for depression and anxiety disorders.

Melnyk says plans call for tele-health services to be established at the center in the future for families who live outside the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Janet Cooper, MSN, CPNP-PC, Psych MHNP-BC, has been appointed director of the center. She is a pediatric and child-family psychiatric nurse practitioner with 27 years experience working with children of all ages with physical and mental health disorders. Her current interests are children with depression, ADHD and anxiety disorders.

Information on services, insurance coverage, appointments and parking can be obtained by calling the Southwest Health Center at (602) 496-0721.