Fundraising to Increase Access to Care During Mental Health Awareness Month

The Carrier Clinic Reception raised crucial funds to support behavioral health.

Carrier Clinic Raises Funds to Support Transformation of Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the increased need for behavioral health and substance use disorder funding, especially for adolescents and children, has never been more important. Philanthropy has the power to aid us in our mission to ensure those who need treatment receive the care they deserve. 

Carrier Clinic recently raised vital funds at a fundraising event on the behavioral health hospital’s sprawling 100-acre Belle Mead, NJ, campus to support the transformation of the adolescent behavioral health unit so that the facility can treat more adolescents in crisis.

Recently, the CDC reported that one in three teenage girls has reported feeling persistent sadness, and that one in three seriously considered attempting suicide. In fact, recent studies show suicide was the second-leading cause of death among teenagers nationwide.

To help combat this serious crisis, Carrier Clinic, the largest not-for-profit behavioral health facility in New Jersey, is embarking on the development of a $29 million, 50,000+ square foot replacement adolescent unit, taking its bed total up to 52 from 36 beds for children and adolescents. 

In addition to increasing the number of beds for those in need, the new, state-of-the-art unit will feature a family resource and training center open to all Hackensack Meridian Health team members, patients and the community, a new gymnasium and clinical features designed specifically for the safety of patients and clinicians. The design will ensure that Carrier Clinic can implement best practices for all behavioral health diagnoses and also incorporate space for a latency program, which will allow Carrier to lower the age of the patients served to 7-years-old. 

“Children and teens are in crisis like never before, and so much needs to be done to rectify the situation,” says Patricia Toole, president and chief hospital executive, Carrier Clinic. “While we can’t singlehandedly solve all of the problems contributing to the growing need for behavioral health and substance use disorder services, we can make sure that when children are in need, they have a safe and private place to go where they can receive the expert care that they desperately need.”

We thank all of our donors who continue to give in support of this incredibly important cause. To make a gift in honor of Mental Health Awareness month to help Hackensack Meridian Health make an even greater difference in the lives of children and adolescents facing behavioral health challenges, visit GiveHMH.org/BehavioralHealth or contact Michael Loch, director of development at Carrier Clinic, at michael.loch@hmhn.org.