Patient admissions to Upstate's new Biobehavioral Health Unit and expanded inpatient pediatric/adolescent psychiatry unit are expected to begin in early November.

Dozens of Upstate leaders were joined by city and state officials and elected leaders in cutting the ribbon on the facility, the Children’s Pavilion, Oct. 18.

The new Biobehavioral Health Unit (BBHU)—the first facility of its kind in New York state, and one of only a handful nationwide—will treat children with mental health needs and developmental disabilities.

The opening represents a significant expansion of Upstate’s mental health services for children, especially those with multiple mental and behavioral health diagnoses.

“Addressing the mental health concerns of our kids and families is of paramount importance to Upstate,” said Upstate President Mantosh Dewan, MD. “With the support of many in our community and across the state, Upstate has readily accepted the mantle of caring for our kids. Today, that support continues to reap benefits for our children and families with the opening of this new facility."

The 31,506-square-foot building was formerly under the jurisdiction of the Office of Mental Health, but transferred to SUNY. Upstate undertook a significant renovation of the building that included additional programming space and family visiting areas.

The building, located at 655 Madison St., in Syracuse, is in close proximity to other key Upstate services and buildings. It’s across the street from the Golisano Center for Special Needs, kitty-corner to the Upstate’s Institute of Human Performance and a block from Upstate’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

The BBHU is an 11-bed specialized unit where children 5 to 17 years old can receive behavioral and mental health care and one-to-one therapy. The goal of the unit is to stabilize and reduce severe destructive behavior in patients by teaching alternative forms of behavior while also providing evidence-based caregiver training.

Officials say the opening of this unit by Upstate will reduce out-of-state placements for children, thereby reducing the financial burden on families and the trauma to youth by keeping families together.

“This is the first building of its kind,” said Henry Roane, PhD, the Gregory S. Liptak Professor of Child Development, division chief of the Center for Behavior, Development and Genetics, executive director of the Golisano Center for Special Needs, who also serves as program director of the new unit “It will serve a patient population for whom this level of care has traditionally only been available if families traveled several states away. The BBHU allows us to offer these specialized services for children in Central New York to serve families statewide who have children in need of this care.

“On behalf of the families we serve, I’m grateful to those who have supported our efforts in making this level of care available at Upstate,” Roane said.

Patients who will be treated in the BBHU will present an array or mental and behavioral health concerns with another diagnoses, such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, trisomy 21, depression, anxiety, and ADHD, among others.

The services provided in this unit focus on family-centered care in which the youth and family actively participate in treatment development, which studies have shown results in better health outcomes. In providing inpatient services that are currently not available in New York, this unit will connect this population with the necessary specialized care to avoid prolonged hospitalizations that are not associated with a medical condition.

Working with children and families on treatment plans are an array of care providers, such as physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, psychiatrists, behavior analysts, clinical social workers, and family therapists. The program will create nearly 100 new health care jobs in Central New York over the next two years.

The new unit expands the work of the nearby Golisano Center for Special Needs which provides comprehensive, coordinated and evidence-based medical and behavioral care for children and adolescents with many types of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Following discharge from the BBHU, patients will have the opportunity to receive ongoing services at the Golisano Center for Special Needs.

In addition to the BBHU, the building will house an 18-bed inpatient pediatric/adolescent psychiatry unit. This new space complements the eight-bed unit Upstate University Hospital opened in 2020 to serve youth ages 12 to 17.

“This expansion should address the need for children having to board and be cared for overnight in the Emergency Department,” said Christopher Lucas, MD, vice chair of Hospital Psychiatry Services at Upstate University Hospital. “Ever since the 8-bed inpatient pediatric/adolescent psychiatry unit opened in 2020, we have only had a few days where we have had a vacant bed.”

In strengthening its care for children in need of mental health services in Central New York, Upstate has worked to address the findings of the Youth Mental Health Task Force headed by U.S. Rep. John Katko and New York Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, which issued its report in 2018. The task force included representation from Upstate, including Dewan, who was the Upstate’s interim president at the time.

The report called for upgrades and enhancements to mental health services for youth and urged active support for Upstate’s efforts to add an acute children and adolescent mental health unit.

In the past decade, Upstate has significantly increased its ability to care for children and adolescents with mental health needs

In 2017, it opened a high-risk psychiatry program specializing in the treatment of youth and young adults (ages 16 to 40) who are at risk for suicide or other self-harming behaviors. The program addresses other conditions that commonly occur in these individuals, such as depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders and addictions.

In 2020, Upstate opened an intensive outpatient mental health treatment program for individuals aged 13 to 18. The program provides up to six weeks of intense services for individuals not responding to traditional outpatient services.

That same year, Upstate opened its inpatient psychiatric unit for children aged 12 to 17. Unit staff are trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a form of treatment based on an adaptation of DBT and individualized for each patient. A multidisciplinary team provides care with a high staff-to-patient ratio to help meet the individualized needs of each patient.

Patient admissions to the new BBHU and the expansion of the inpatient pediatric/adolescent psychiatry unit are expected to begin in late October through early November.

Caption: Upstate leaders, joined by dozens of state and local officials, cut the ribbon on the Children's Pavilion, which includes a new biobehavioral health unit and expanded inpatient child and adolescent and psychiatry floor.