Providing Vital Behavioral and Mental Health Support For Kids

At Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, our Vision of doing everything possible to make anything possible for kids means not just addressing patients’ physical needs but their emotional needs, too.

We’re committed to addressing the growing demand for behavioral and mental health services to manage many increasingly common concerns impacting children today. Helping to meet this need, our behavioral and mental health nursing team is dedicated to providing this vital support for kids in our hospitals.

Created in 2020, the behavioral and mental health nursing team provides care and supports patients’ emotional needs. In their consultative role, our behavioral and mental health nurses proactively round our three hospitals to see any patients with behavioral and mental health concerns and are leaders of our behavioral emergency response team.

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Members of the behavioral and mental health nursing team, pausing momentarily during their shift for a group photo at Scottish Rite Hospital.

“Although the behavioral and mental health nursing team leads the emergency response, their focus is much more than being just a crisis response team,” said Lisa Schneider, Director, Behavioral and Mental Health Hospital Operations. “The majority of the team’s effort goes into preventing these behavioral and mental health crises from occurring in the first place.”
Trust in Behavioral and Mental Health Nurses’ Expertise

To prepare for their specialty work, behavioral and mental health nurses at Children’s complete extensive training. This training, coupled with focused onboarding and education, helps subject matter specialists in providing hands-on child and adolescent care, inclusive of trauma-informed care, suicide prevention, crisis prevention and de-escalation, to name a few.

When a behavioral and mental health nurse sees a patient during rounds, they perform a mental status exam, ensure that the child’s coping plan has been updated, and deliver and document any necessary interventions. Coping plans are important tools, as they outline the individualized approach to each patient—including their likes and dislikes, triggers or signs of potential escalation, and how to best help the child cope and reregulate.

“We work to manage each child’s emotional state, and it takes a lot of creativity to make sure we’re keeping kids safe. Our de-escalation skills have to be top notch,” said Vonny Williams, Assistant Nurse Manager, Behavioral and Mental Health, Hughes Spalding Hospital.

Pride in Changing Lives
Vonny is proud of the difference she gets to make for kids in her role.

“It's very rewarding to know that you made a positive impression and provided comfort and joy in a difficult moment of their lives,” she says.

While Vonny and many members of the behavioral and mental health nursing team have previous psychiatric experience, such experience is not mandatory for nurses seeking to join the team.

“We can teach anyone about behavioral and mental health diagnoses, medications and crisis intervention, so the most important qualifications for joining this team are having a good heart and a passion for improving the quality of care for these kids and teens,” Lisa said.

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