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Youth Crisis Center helps families, children struggling during COVID-19 pandemic

With the sudden changes, the Youth Crisis Center has seen a rise in suicide interventions, anxiety and eating disorders in children.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — So much change happened so quickly with the coronavirus pandemic, the sudden social distancing guidelines meant a big change for the therapy world.

That impact is being seen at the Youth Crisis Center here in Jacksonville.

Kim Sirdevan, the President and CEO of the Youth Crisis Center, says with a child’s daily structure gone, they are seeing a lot of anxiety in the children they treat.

"We have three young folks that were suicidal and we have had to intervene and make some wellness checks on them with law enforcement, so thank you for that support from law enforcement," tells Sirdevan.

She has also seen a rise in children being referred to the center for eating disorders.

"So with a lot of the structure and changes, the things that were allowing these young people to thrive in their treatment, they have now been a setback," says Sirdevan.

They have struggled referring those children to inpatient units because units are not accepting new patients right now. They also had to temporarily suspend their resident crisis care program.

She says they have also seen a rise in family conflict and emphasizes that in these stressful times their therapists are here to help.  Many of their services are at no cost to families and she hopes children or their parents will reach out if they are struggling.

"Learn those coping skills on how to stay connected and if you are finding that you can’t do that because it is just too much, just reach out and ask because we don’t want anything more damaging to happen in that family unit," explain Sirdevan.

To adapt to social distancing rules, starting April 20 all therapists will be able to do live virtual sessions rather than just speaking over the phone.

The Youth Crisis Center has a 24-hour crisis hotline number 904-725-6662.

For more information about the Youth Crisis Center or to be able to donate to help the organization visit: https://youthcrisiscenter.org

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