VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University celebrated the ribbon cutting for their new Virginia Treatment Center for Children. The new VTCC is the result of $56 million in funding from the Virginia General Assembly and a dedicated community of donors and mental health advocates.
One in five children will experience a serious mental health issue, but 75 percent of them will not receive the care they need, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. VTCC is an acknowledgement that national issues surrounding children’s mental health need to be addressed and VCU’s Department of Psychiatry is leading the charge.
The facility is transformational for children’s mental healthcare, bringing VTCC’s services out of a 50-year-old institutional space and into a modern facility with an inspirational design that incorporates natural light, green space and unique safety features important to modern mental healthcare. Based on research and the unique profile of the pediatric psychiatric patient, the facility design features a soothing aesthetic, warm and bright color palette and comforting, home-like furnishings.
The two-story, 190,000-square-foot facility spans 4.5 acres on CHoR’s Brook Road Campus and includes 32 private inpatient rooms with accommodations for a parent to spend the night; 20 outpatient consult rooms; occupational, recreation, art, music and play therapy; inpatient school programs; a gym and recreational areas; gardens and greenspace; a Children’s Mental Health Resource Center and the Commonwealth Institute for Child and Family Studies, the research arm of VTCC. The new facility opens to children and families in early 2018.
The building is the first LEED-accredited children’s behavioral health facility in Virginia. CannonDesign was the architect of the nature-themed facility, with project management by JLL and construction by Balfour Beatty.
