Note to readers • This article discusses mental health. If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for 24-hour support.
A new walk-in center will open next week in Utah for teenagers and kids as young as 5 years old who are experiencing a mental health crisis — a group that has consistently faced among the highest suicide rates in the nation.
“It’s a real epidemic here,” said Dave Eldredge, a licensed clinical social worker and executive director of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. “We have kids who are really struggling.”
The hope is that the new center run out of the institute at the University of Utah will serve as a bridge for the youngest in the state who need immediate help, but whose parents often don’t have a clear place to turn.
Emergency rooms, Eldredge said, are typically overrun and are not the best option for behavioral care. In fact, they can make the situation worse for a patient in crisis whose nervous system is already on overdrive.
Waiting months for an appointment with a family doctor also doesn’t work for a child who has a short window for intervention. And schools often offer limited services.
To address those gaps to crucial care, the Youth Crisis Care program will launch next Monday, July 28, at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute at 501 S. Chipeta Way.
The 24/7 walk-in center will be open to anyone ages 5 to 17 (and 18, if they are still enrolled in high school) seeking care in a mental health emergency.
“Right now, we’re not doing this right. It’s hard to get into our services,” said Dr. James Ashworth, who has been working in child psychiatry in Utah since 1999. “We want to figure this out.”
For decades, Utah has ranked among the worst 10 for its youth suicide rate — which typically is the leading cause of death for Utahns ages 10 to 17, according to statistics from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
And that rate has tripled over the last decade, leading to, on average, more than 40 kids and teens dying by suicide in the state each year. Between the summer of 2017 and the spring of 2018, seven Herriman High School students alone died by suicide.
Eldredge said the need for an integrated youth crisis center has always been great in Utah; now, he said, it’s a dire need.
The new program at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute will be able to accommodate 12 patients on a rolling admissions basis. Depending on individual needs, someone admitted would be able to stay there for up to 23 hours.
“I think we’ll be hitting capacity pretty fast,” Eldredge said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dave Eldredge, executive director of Huntsman Mental Health Institute, talks about the critical need of their soon-to-open child mental health care crisis center on Monday, July 21, 2025.
What does a visit look like?
New patients will be immediately evaluated by a clinical social worker.
That will be used to determine next steps, including therapy, medication or other interventions. There will also be specialized pediatric providers on-site, as well as around-the-clock monitoring by nurses.
There are peer-support specialists who can talk to young patients; those specialists are certified to help children navigating challenges, having lived through similar experiences.
After they are stable, a child can be then referred for an in-patient stay, which averages seven to 10 days, said Natalie McClintock, a licensed clinical social worker and the mental health institute’s behavioral health sciences manager. The institute has a 161-bed hospital.
Or they can be set up with out-patient services, such as counseling, which the center’s staff says it believes will apply in most cases.
“The majority of youth treated at the program will be able to return home with outreach support and a comprehensive safety and follow-up care plan,” according to information provided in a news release on the new center.
Staff provided a tour on Monday. Inside, there are 12 gray recliners open and waiting for patients. Pictures of exotic animals line the walls — macaws, elephants and orangutans — while wide windows provided a glimpse of towering trees outside. A sign by one door says, “Hope begins here.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Staff at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute give a tour of their soon-to-open child mental health care crisis center on Monday, July 21, 2025.
White noise will be played from speakers installed in the ceiling to make it a calm and comforting space.
“The entire setting is built to de-escalate emotional distress and begin therapeutic engagement right away,” the news release continued.
Eldredge said parents will be involved in every step of their child’s treatment. Having a supportive family system, he said, can make a huge difference in how a child heals.
For patients 11 and under, parents and kids will stay in more private consultation rooms.
Parents of those 12 and older can’t stay in the observation areas — where teens will be sleeping if they have a longer stay — but there is a separate waiting room for them.
What are the signs of a mental health crisis in kids?
Kids have unique responses when experiencing a mental health crisis, Eldredge said. They often need different treatments and tend to process medications at a different rate because of their size and metabolism.
That’s why, he said, it’s so important to have the specialized center.
Talk therapy doesn’t always work with young kids, he said, so doctors tend to use play therapy to help express emotions. One room at the clinic features coloring books and colorful blocks.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Staff at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute give a tour of their soon-to-open child mental health care crisis center on Monday, July 21, 2025.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sarah Latta gives a tour of an assessment room alongside other staff of the soon-to-open Huntsman Mental Health Institute child mental health care crisis center on Monday, July 21, 2025.
The signs of a mental health crisis that parents should watch for in their children include:
• Expressing thoughts of self-harm or suicide or talking about wanting to die.
• Experiencing severe mood changes, such as strong sadness or anger, that last for days or week.
• Showing dangerous behavior, such as aggression or violence to others.
• Refusing care for themselves, such as eating, bathing or attending school.
• Withdrawing from friends and/or loved ones.
• Experiencing extreme anxiety or panic or exhibiting confusion, disorientation or other behaviors that seem unusual or out of character.
• And engaging in substance abuse that seems out of control.
Eldredge encouraged parents not to debate if their child seems to be in crisis. “If you’re unsure, just come in,” he said.
Kids, he added, tend to be more impulsive than adults, so it’s crucial to act quickly and help them work through a crisis.
Dr. Ashworth also said the same. He added: “We can avoid some pain if we treat early.”
Why does Utah need this?
Nearly 23% of high school students in Utah said they had seriously considered suicide in 2023, according to a risk behavior study the state conducted that year. About 20% had made a suicide plan.
Another 2023 survey also said 27% of students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in the state reported experiencing a serious mental health illness.
Those numbers are alarming, Eldredge said. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute alone treated 2,194 youth patients in 2024.
“The need for a youth crisis care program was identified through a combination of data analysis, community feedback and frontline clinical experience,” the new release states.
Eldredge said youth were already struggling before social media added to the problem and the COVID-19 exacerbated it.
There has been an increase, too, he said, in teens seeking help through the SafeUT app, where students can anonymously chat with crisis counselors. He said two “active rescues” of kids at serious risk of harm now stem from the app each day.
With the center, he said, “our belief is we will also be saving multiple lives.”
What other resources are there for kids?
Students in Utah can download the SafeUT app, where they can also submit tips, such as a concern about school safety.
Youth are also encouraged to call or text 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline.
And those in Utah can call 801-587-7988.
The state also has Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams, or MCOT, that can meet people where they are to help de-escalate a crisis.
There is also the Children’s Center Utah, which offers mental health services. And parents can call after-hours at 801-582-5534 for an on-call clinician who can provide support and referrals.
Currently, the U.’s crisis clinic accepts insurances from: U-Health plans, Regence BlueCross BlueShield, Utah State Medicaid and Medicare.
What about for adults?
The child crisis center at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute is actually based on the one for adults currently operating in South Salt Lake at 955 W. 3300 South.
That opened in March and offers similar 24/7 walk-in services for adults experiencing mental health crises. It can handle about 45 people for stabilization care up to 23 hours.
Both the Utah and the national crisis lines are also open to individuals of all ages.
Will this program expand?
Yes. The youth crisis center was “backed by generous gifts from several donors,” according to the institute, the amount of which were not disclosed.
The hope, said Dr. Ashworth, is to scale up with time with more philanthropic interest.
“We need to just get in and do this with what we have right now,” he said. “We feel like there’s a big need out there. People are just going without.”
Like other areas of medicine, there also is a doctor shortage that the institute is pushing up against. So training more physicians will be crucial.
Ashworth said with time, experts will be able to study the data from the center to see what’s working and try new approaches. That could include more rural areas of the state, where the need is often compounded.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Staff at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute give a tour of their soon-to-open child mental health care crisis center on Monday, July 21, 2025.
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