New Pediatric Psychology program to tackle youth mental health challenges
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 21, 2025) — Mental health is a crucial component of overall well-being, and in recent years, there has been growing recognition of the mental health needs of children, adolescents, and young adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 5 children experience a mental health disorder each year. Despite this increased awareness, access to mental health services remains a significant challenge, both in Kentucky and nationwide.
With support from generous donors, providers at Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH) have launched a new Pediatric Psychology program to address the growing need for mental health services. With a mission to improve the mental health of children, adolescents, young adults and their families by:
- Partnering with medical teams to promote overall health and well-being by providing evidence-based interventions and mental health care.
- Researching to inform clinical practice.
- Training healthcare providers — including mental health clinicians — in trauma-informed medical care.
“Launching this new division reflects a commitment from the Department of Pediatrics to include mental health care as part of promoting healthy development in our youth,” said Megan Marsac, Ph.D., chief of the Division of Pediatric Psychology in the UK College of Medicine. “We are thrilled to be bringing mental health providers with specialized skill sets in evidence-based assessments and practices to increase our ability to meet the mental health needs of the children of Kentucky.”
The Pediatric Psychology program comprises an interdisciplinary team that frequently collaborates with child life specialists, nurses, advanced practice nurses, social workers and physicians. Together, this team ensures that both mental and physical health needs are addressed, providing comprehensive care for youth experiencing mental health conditions.
“Mental health care isn’t separate from health care — it’s an essential part of it,” said Scottie B. Day, physician-in-chief for KCH. “With this new division, we are reinforcing our commitment to treating the whole child and bridge the gap in access to critical mental health services for children, adolescents, and young adults.”
The division is expanding its team by recruiting additional psychologists with specialized skills to meet the growing demand for mental health services. This expansion aims to increase access to care and reduce wait times.
The program’s current clinical services include:
- Pediatric psychology, which specializes in services for youth with medical conditions and their families, including families with babies receiving treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit and neonatal abstinence care unit.
- Adolescent medicine psychology, an area focused on addressing mental health concerns in adolescents.
- Developmental pediatric psychology to support youth with developmental conditions and their families.
The team also conducts research on methods that can be used to improve youth and families’ experiences with medical care, their adaptation to medical conditions as well as their overall health. Clinically relevant research and quality improvement projects help identify youth and families who may benefit from mental health support, determine factors associated with mental health symptoms and evaluate treatments to enhance mental health outcomes and quality of life. The team will also partner with medical teams on identifying youth who are at risk for suicide and helping to connect them to services.
As a division of the UK College of Medicine, undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students will have the opportunity to learn about in evidence-based mental health interventions, clinically relevant research and trauma-informed care, as well providing trauma-informed care training to medical providers.
Patients and families who wish to be connected to these services should contact their primary care provider. If your child is considering suicide, go to the nearest emergency room, call or text 988 or chat on 988lifeline.org right away. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
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