mental health services for Hoosier children & teens
The Irsay family is donating more than $600,000 to Riley Children’s Hospital as part of its “Kicking The Stigma” campaign.
“What they’re doing is innovative, and unique, and is helping children right now and they could do so much more if they had more resources,” said Kalen Jackson, Vice Chair/Owner of the Indianapolis Colts.
The Irsay’s donation will go towards expanding Riley’s ‘Be Happy’ program—allowing the hospital to hire psychologists for the hotline.
Healthcare providers can use the hotline when they’re seeking information about mental health issues in children and adolescents.
In 2020, a record 766 children and teenagerscame to the riley emergency department and required evaluation from the riley behavioral health access center.
In 2021, that number jumped to more than 1,260.
“Our state, our country, really the whole world, we simply do not have enough pediatric psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians and the pandemic has made the problem so much worse,” said Dr. Leslie Hulvershorn, Director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Riley Children’s Health.
The hotline is open to all healthcare providers in the state. They just have to register first.
FOX 59 Indianapolis