The Overlooked Transition: Supporting School Reintegration After a Mental Health Emergency Department Visit

Abstract

A growing body of research has focused on inpatient psychiatric hospital to school transition for students with mental health concerns. However, the majority of youth who visit the Emergency Department (ED) return to school immediately without requiring hospitalization. Given that most youth will not be hospitalized, schools must be prepared to meet the needs of these youth, who may receive delayed care or no follow-up at all after being discharged from the ED. As such, interviews were conducted with school mental health professionals and administrators (n=10) about their experiences and needs related to supporting youth returning to school after an ED visit. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes were identified: (1) risk and threat assessment often being the extent of training received; (2) variability in transition protocols; and (3) ongoing systemic issues, such as lack of outpatient resources for students and a lack of training available for school mental health professionals. Implications are discussed, including the need to bolster the research-informed and evidence-based trainings for staff, as well as interventions available to students after an ED visit.

Keywords: Emergency Department; Emergency Department to School Transition; Qualitative; School Mental Health.