Gaps in Emergency Mental Health Care for Youth
Laura Love’s 13-year-old son Sam Aden was separated from his parents for nine hours during an emergency room evaluation in early 2022 after expressing feelings of despair. Stripped of personal belongings and monitored in a secure holding room, he was left alone without supportive elements—an experience Love described as fear-based rather than hope-based and traumatic for both Sam and his parents. After discharge from a subsequent six-week outpatient program, the family was surprised by the lack of a comprehensive treatment plan or follow-up care. Despite apparent improvement and engagement in activities including photography, snowboarding, and guitar, Sam died by suicide on May 4, 2023. Love now advocates for systemic change, questioning whether a supportive place for acute crisis intervention might have changed his outcome.
System-Wide Trauma and Reluctance to Seek Care
A 2021 peer-reviewed study in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology showed that two-thirds of youth involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric concerns said they would keep suicidal thoughts to themselves rather than risk returning to the ER. The study identified perceptions of inpatient treatment as “more punitive than therapeutic” and found that 66% of participants met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from traumatic treatment experiences. In 2021, 3,291 youth under age 18 were involuntarily hospitalized in Colorado. In the third quarter of 2024, 209 people under age 21 spent more than 12 hours in ERs waiting for psychiatric placement, and nine stayed longer than 72 hours, representing improvement from late 2023 when 518 youth spent more than 12 hours in ERs awaiting appropriate facilities.
Trauma-Informed Alternative Model
Children’s Hospital Colorado is pioneering a different approach. Under their model, only 10% of hospitalizations are involuntary, and their psychiatric unit operates zero-restraint and zero-isolation with full parent transparency. Dr. K. Ron-Li Liaw, Mental Health In-Chief at Children’s, emphasizes that “the number one thing we need to build is trust” and describes their unit as a “trauma-informed healing model” where kids are placed in programs with peers facing similar challenges. This contrasts with traditional psychiatric units, which Liaw notes use seclusion despite evidence that it is “punitive and traumatic.” Love now serves on the hospital’s Family Advisory Council, advocating for mental health systems modeled on cancer care: a clear diagnosis, comprehensive treatment plan, scheduled appointments, and transparent forward path.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://coloradosun.com/2025/03/12/mental-health-colorado-youth-suicide-sam-aden/