420 Heartfelt emotions from kids who hurt

Caring donations bring a joyful art project to our youngest psychiatric patients

YOU MIGHT IMAGINE the Children’s Psychiatric Inpatient Services (CPIS) unit, for 4- to 13-year-olds, is always a very sad place. But you’d be wrong.

It’s true that the patients there have significant mental health issues, ranging from depression to anxiety to selfharm—sometimes even attempted suicide. It’s heartbreaking to think of children that young struggling with such things.

But donors like you are bringing joy to these children during their stay at CPIS. Take, for example, Art from the Heart, a program that was funded by a donation from the Friends of Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

Over the course of a year, our patients (and their families) had the opportunity to sit down with their peers and express their feelings—whatever they might be—using paints and ceramic tiles. The staff got into the act too—many of our physicians, nurses, recreational therapists, and social workers painted their emotions too.

By the time we were done, we had 420 colorful, inspiring painted tiles, which were assembled into three large wall murals. They provided a wonderful creative and emotional outlet for the patients, and now—hanging in the entrance hall to the unit—they show every new child who arrives that
there is hope and happiness ahead for them too.

Thank you, Friends of YNHCH, for your compassion and generosity!