Mental Health Initiative Fund for ETCH

Hello! My name is Skylar and in honor of Suicide Awareness Month this September, I am raising funds for the Mental Health Initiative Fund at East Tennessee Childrens Hospital to support their need on their campus and at home. Each year more and more children suffer from mental illness and suicidal thoughts and nearly 19 percent of all children in the state have seriously considered suicide. Critical cases like these are the ones they see most often in the Pilot Emergency Care Center at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. The overwhelming need for psychiatric services for children is the foundation of my cause and I am so delighted to help ETCH develop their mental health program for our kids to have a healthy and bright future.

This fundraiser is very dear to me because my own cousin's life was spared from suicide two years ago with the help of an adolescent treatment program. Each year, I remember how lucky we are to still have her and all of those who saved her life. I want to help these facilities continue to serve girls like my cousin, Grace.

My goal is to raise a total of $5,000 dollars for these outpatient facilities. This fund will support ETCH ongoing efforts, which include:

• Providing child psychiatrist in the emergency department.

• Initiating universal screening for all inpatients 12 years and older.

• Launching Cognitive Behavior Therapies in place at ETCH.

• Partnering with the Helen Ross McNabb Center (HRMC) to open a 24/7 walk-in Crisis Clinic at HRMC.

• Partnering with HRMC to open the Crisis Stabilization Unit at ETCH, which is the first of its kind in the state.

We need your help to address the mental health issues that our kids and their families suffer from every day. Your generosity will enable us to offer greater support and services for our kids going through mental health crises to get the aid they require. Your input will change how future patient care is supported and how communities confront mental health issues in the future. Every dollar given to the Mental Health Initiative Fund will assist us in expanding these crucial initiatives and broaden our impact during this mental health crisis.

Thank you in advance for supporting this cause which is so personal to me!!