Each weekday, children and teens hospitalized in the psychiatric unit at the University of North Carolina’s Neurosciences Hospital spend a few hours in a part of the building that doesn’t look like a hospital at all.

They leave their locked unit and head down to UNC’s Hospital School on the second floor, where three classrooms are furnished with desks, smart boards and white boards. A closet in the hallway has been transformed into a makeshift library. For the duration of class, the young patients have only one responsibility: They’re there to learn.

The year-round school is part of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, but it operates unlike any other campus in the district. The teachers meet daily with students’ treatment teams, prepare lessons and serve as a bridge between the hospital and the student’s regular school. Lessons are important, principal Marny Ruben said, but so is providing a sense of normalcy to students whose lives have been upended by a mental health crisis.

“Oftentimes, things are happening at schools that are contributing to their crisis,” Ruben said, pointing to intense school work, bullying and overwhelming social dynamics. By arranging academic support and a connection back to a student’s regular school, hospital school staff work to alleviate that stress and prepare students for a smooth transition once they leave, she added.

Now, as the rate of young people experiencing mental health distress climbs, with in-patient mental health hospitalizations rising by more than 120 percent between 2016 and 2022 according to one measure, the need for school support programs has grown. For young people receiving in-patient psychiatric care, hospital school programs like the one at UNC not only keep them on track academically, but can also be helpful to their recovery, said Marisa E. Marraccini, an associate professor of school psychology at UNC’s School of Education.

Read the full article about psychiatric care for young people by Rebecca Redelmeier at The Hechinger Report.