ALBUQUERQUE — Children and adolescents experiencing serious mental health challenges now have access to a significantly expanded behavioral health facility following the opening of the University of New Mexico’s new Children’s Psychiatric Center.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham joined University of New Mexico officials June 9 to mark the opening of the newly expanded center, the culmination of several years of investment in pediatric behavioral health services.
The new 32,500-square-foot Children’s Psychiatric Center is designed to provide intensive behavioral health care for children and adolescents through age 17 in a trauma-informed environment. The facility includes 36 patient beds, calming patient rooms, communal gathering spaces, outdoor courtyards and specialized treatment areas intended to support recovery while helping young patients feel safe and comfortable.
The center serves children whose mental health needs require hospital-level care, including continuous observation, medication management, individual and group counseling, therapeutic activities and educational services during treatment.
The Children’s Psychiatric Center has long served as New Mexico’s only emergency psychiatric unit for children that accepts patients regardless of a family’s ability to pay. It is also the state’s only children’s psychiatric facility affiliated with an academic medical center.…