Brooklyn Park, Minnesota – PrairieCare, a prominent psychiatric health system operating across nine locations in Minnesota, unveiled a significant expansion of its inpatient care facility in Brooklyn Park on Wednesday. This development comes as a crucial response to the overwhelming challenges faced by the state’s mental health system.
With the approval of state legislators, the expansion has introduced an additional 30 beds specifically dedicated to adolescent psychiatric patients, offering a glimmer of hope in a beleaguered mental healthcare landscape.
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader, Kari Dziedzic, representing DFL-Minneapolis, highlighted the unwavering commitment of lawmakers to enhance the mental health system. A substantial allocation of $98 million in new funding during the most recent legislative session underscored this commitment.
Dziedzic shared a poignant personal story that underscored the urgency of the situation. She recounted her cousin’s struggle to find adequate care for depression, a battle that ended tragically in suicide. “She was loved, but she was also tired, and she died from suicide,” Dziedzic remarked, highlighting the dire consequences of the shortage of available inpatient beds.
Minnesota has long grappled with a well-documented shortage of in-patient psychiatric beds, a deficit felt particularly acutely among adolescents. PrairieCare’s expansion in Brooklyn Park, boasting an additional 30 beds, is projected to enable the treatment of approximately 1,000 more adolescents annually, according to Todd Archbold, the CEO of PrairieCare.
Archbold stressed the gravity of the situation, revealing, “In Minnesota, there is a moratorium on psychiatric beds; we reached 98% capacity on beds all of last school year. We could have used these new beds years ago; it just took us this long to get here.”
This shortage is exacerbated by a concerning surge in mental illness cases among adolescents in recent years. In 2021, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 4 in 10 students experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness, with nearly one-third grappling with poor mental health. Shockingly, more than 1 in 5 students seriously contemplated suicide, and 1 in 10 attempted suicide.
Sue Abderholden, the executive director of NAMI Minnesota, a prominent mental health advocacy group, identified the role of social media in aggravating the mental health crisis. She emphasized the need to provide children with a respite from the relentless exposure to online bullying and stressors, stating, “When I was a child, if you got bullied at school, you came home and closed the door, and there was respite. There’s no respite now. It’s still on social media 24/7. We need to give kids that respite.”
In addition to the 30 new beds, PrairieCare’s expanded facility boasts amenities designed to enhance the healing experience, including a sensory room, meditation and prayer spaces, and outdoor recreation facilities. Multi-colored wallpaper adorns the rooms and hallways, a testament to the commitment to create a “beautiful healing space,” as Abderholden eloquently put it.
