KSHB 41: 'There were gaps for kids': Children's Mercy launches program to bridge mental health care gap
By Olivia Acree
Children's Mercy has launched a new partial hospitalization program as part of its Illuminate initiative to address the growing mental health crisis among Kansas City children.
The program, which opened in late August, aims to fill the gap between inpatient and outpatient mental health services by providing intensive daily support while allowing children to return home to their families each night.
"One of the things that was really important to us was that when we bring children here and work with them and identify the best interventions and help them learn skills, that they will be able to generalize those skills back home and back to school," said Dr. Rebecca Johnson, developmental and behavioral health division director.
The partial hospitalization program (PCP) represents the latest milestone in Children's Mercy's Illuminate initiative, which was announced in 2023. In December 2024, the hospital celebrated the opening of its first mental wellness campus.
Johnson’s life’s work is to get kids the tools they need to thrive. In PHP, that means days full of learning and therapeutic services.
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