New mental, behavioral health program announced at Dayton Children’s through $5M gift

DAYTON — A new program focused on mental and behavioral healthcare in children at Dayton Children’s Hospital could become a national model for preventing mental health crisis, according to a release from Dayton Children’s Hospital.

The partnership between Dayton Children’s Hospital and The Connor Group was announced this morning and will be administered at the newly-renamed Connor Child Health Pavilion on the east edge of Dayton Children’s main campus.

The program will provide counseling, psychology and psychiatric services to an estimated 4,000 children during child-well visited, intensive outpatient therapy to another 1,400 children, and provide parent education and community-based resources to more than 5,000 families.

“We’ve looked all over the country and we haven’t seen a model like this, one that provides this continuum of care,” said Jonathan Thackeray, MD, chief medical officer of population health at Dayton Children’s. “We hope this becomes the national standard for providing the very best care for children to position them for lifelong success.”

The project is made possible through one of the largest gifts in Dayton Children’s history – a $5 million, five-year initial investment from The Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, according to the release. Dayton Children’s will raise $3 million in matching funds.