Stamford Health held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning at the grand opening of its new Bennett Child and Adolescent EmPATH Unit and PATHways Program.

This new center will provide children and adolescents across Fairfield County with greater access to specialized crisis care designed to provide rapid evaluation and stabilization for patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

The unit will provide a supportive, therapeutic, calming environment along with specialized programming with advanced clinical expertise.

Dr. Raviv B. Berlin, chair of psychiatry at Stamford Health, says EmPATH units have proven to reduce the rates of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization by over 50%, reduce ED restraint utilization to less than 1%, decrease the ED length of stay by over 70%, and safely discharge over 75% of patients back to the home and the community within 24 hours.

The new PATHways program also launched is a short-term outpatient program providing up to 12 weeks of care after discharge from the EmPATH unit. It is a child-friendly clinic environment staffed by the same child and adolescent psychiatrist and therapists.

Essentially, the PATHways program serves as a treatment bridge from the EmPATH unit to long-term care in the community.

The facility will officially open on Monday, Aug. 31.