Meet Kaylee: A Boston Children’s Hospital Champion

At nine years old, Kaylee first expressed thoughts and feelings of suicide.

“I brought her to the emergency room right away,” says Michele, Kaylee’s mother. “I knew that was the safest place for her to be.”

Kaylee, a Boston Children's Hospital
champion, is participating in Family Advocacy
Day 2023.

Kaylee boarded at Boston Children’s Hospital for more than 20 days, in need of psychiatric treatment. She spent four nights in the emergency department and the remainder of the time on a clinical floor.

Kaylee was transferred to the Boston Children's Hospital community-based acute treatment (CBAT) unit in Waltham, Mass. After a two week stay in CBAT, she was more stable. During this time, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, ADHD and anxiety.

Now, Kaylee regularly sees a psychiatrist. “She currently does not have a therapist because finding a therapist willing to do in-person therapy is challenging after the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Michele. “The pandemic still impacts her today with the lack of therapists taking new patients for in-person visits. While online therapy works for many people, it does not work for Kaylee.”

Kaylee is on a MassHealth insurance plan, which has made it much more difficult to find providers, especially therapists in the community, that take her insurance.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened Kaylee's mental health challenges. “Although she was safe from COVID-19 while attending remote school, her mental health challenges became more and more of a problem,” says Michele. “Once returning to school, she struggled with friendships and developed more mental health challenges.”

Today, Kaylee is doing better. She enjoys making art, playing video games and learning about animals.