Intermountain St. George Hospital Opens Behavioral Health Day Program to Help Kids and Teens in Need

The new Intermountain Health St. George Regional Hospital Day Treatment Center is opening its doors to address a critical need in pediatric behavioral health care, thanks to community support given to the annual Jubilee of Trees fundraiser.

Intermountain Health and community leaders, joined by a family who lost a child to suicide, participated in a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the new center, a converted home at 409 E. 500 South in St. George, which will offer the Adolescent Behavioral Health Partial Hospitalization Program.

The Partial Hospitalization Program offers intensive care and skill building to kids five days a week, each day for the length of a typical school day.

At the end of each day, participants go home to use the skills they learned with their family. The course of treatment is up to 15 days, with the length of stay determined by the youth, their parents, and the program team. The program opens January 28.

“This new center fills an important need in mental health care and will bring hope to kids and families in the St. George area,” said Natalie Ashby, president of Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital. “Thank you to our caregivers, providers and external partners who helped to build this clinic. It takes many, many people to make this happen, and we are grateful for your contributions and dedication to helping children and families.”

The Partial Hospitalization Program comes thanks to community generosity at the 2022 Jubilee of Trees, which raised $1.2 million to support pediatric and adolescent mental and behavioral health services at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital.

The annual event, hosted by the Intermountain Foundation at St. George Regional Hospital, has raised funds to advance community medical services at the hospital since 1983.

“We are thankful for our community’s giving spirit, which made this Partial Hospitalization Program possible,” said Loriana De Crescenzo, executive director of the Intermountain Foundation at St. George Regional Hospital. “The impact of this generosity will be felt for years to come.”

Enhancing behavioral health services for children is part of Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise to create the nation’s model health system for children, and based on significant need.

In the past decade, emergency departments at Intermountain Health hospitals in Utah recorded a 300 percent increase in pediatric mental health crises. In 2022, St. George Regional Hospital treated about 1,000 patients for mental health reasons alone.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for Utah youth ages 10 to 17. An estimated 40 percent of children who have depression are not getting care. Last year, 43 percent of Utah youth who felt sad, hopeless, or suicidal reported that they did not talk to anyone about it.

“We’re hopeful the new Partial Hospitalization Program can give children and families the care that they need to prevent mental health crises, help our children return to health and thrive,” said Dr. Patrick Carroll, neonatologist and medical director of St. George Regional Hospital.

Chantel and Colby Peterson hope it can prevent the kind of tragedy that impacted their family.

In 2019, Brooklyn “B” Petersen died by suicide at age 16. She was lively and thoughtful, and excelled academically and in cheerleading, a sport she loved. She had a contagious laugh, and a personality that, like a bright light, drew many to her.

Brooklyn’s stepmom, Chantel, honored Brooklyn’s life by decorating and donating a Christmas tree to the Jubilee of Trees in 2022.

She wanted the beautiful, intricately decorated “Forever B” tree to help raise funds to expand pediatric behavioral and mental health services in the area. She and Colby shared Brooklyn’s story at the Jubilee’s fundraising gala and auction.

What happened next was record-smashing.

The audience was so moved by B’s story, that they together donated an unprecedented $177,000 for the tree, then returned it to the Petersen family to display in their home for the holidays.

“Brooklyn’s love and selflessness bridges both heaven and earth,” her dad, Colby Petersen said. “She is so much more than her ending, however it is our hope that by sharing her story, we may keep her memory alive and advocate for the lives of others affected by mental health and suicide, by instilling value, purpose, and worth on her behalf.”

The new Partial Hospitalization Program addresses a gap in behavioral health services. The program is more intensive than an hourlong outpatient visit with a therapist, and yet not as intense as mental health crisis hospitalization services.

Program participants will receive care from a multi-disciplinary team, including mental health therapists, doctors, and nurses.

Participants will receive care and learn new skills, and their families will learn ways to support their wellbeing. At the end of each day, participants will return to their families to practice their new skills.

“Children are more likely to be successful in treatment when they can apply their experiential learning in a real-world setting in real time,” said Dr. Matthew Bradbury, board certified psychiatrist at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital. “The Partial Hospitalization Program provides those opportunities to participants, and tailors each child’s care and learning to address their individual needs.”

“We invest in our communities, and particularly this community here in Washington County, because it is the right thing to do,” said Cyndi Gilbert, chair of the St. George Regional Hospital Board of Trustees. “Intermountain Health’s mission is to help people live the healthiest lives possible, and that starts with making sure everyone has access to mental health services – especially our children.”

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a not-for-profit system of 34 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.