Starting this month, thousands of children and families who use the clinical services of the Yale Child Study Center (CSC) will receive those services in a new facility that is designed to provide easier access, enhance the patient experience, and promote collaboration among clinicians.
The CSC’s clinical practice is scheduled to move into the newly renovated facility at 350 George St. from Sept. 14-17, and will open its new home to patients on Sept. 18. Until now, clinical services have been scattered over three different sites in New Haven; this move will consolidate those services in a single location that is designed to provide warm, welcoming, patient-centered spaces for children and families.
“Our new outpatient clinical services facility will give families and referring physicians a clearer, friendlier way to come to our services and will bring our teams together in new and exciting ways to learn from one another,” says Linda Mayes, MD, chair of the Child Study Center. “Place makes a difference. And place shapes how people work and interact.”
Having all CSC clinicians work in a single location, with many spaces for informal discussions and meetings, will encourage collaboration and innovation, Mayes says. Approximately 225 people will work in the new clinical facility, including physicians, psychologists, social workers, and staff. The CSC’s clinical trainees in psychology, social work, and child psychiatry and their training seminars will also be located in the new building. The CSC’s research programs will continue to be located at 230 South Frontage Road.
In addition to providing outpatient and home-based services, the 350 George St. location will house the CSC’s Center for Emotional Intelligence and the MOMS Partnership (serving mothers with mental health needs). The CSC provides care to about 3,000 families annually, with about 60,000 clinical visits per year.
The inviting interior of 350 George St. will maximize the use of light and will feature colors and artwork that replicate such natural settings as rivers, lakes, and beaches. The facility will be very family-oriented, with child-friendly spaces, lactation rooms, and a large waiting room as well as small, quiet nooks giving families more private areas to wait.
Several aspects of the building’s décor will be especially meaningful. Rex Walden—the grandson of Arnold Gesell, the first director of the CSC—is creating two paintings for the new facility. Scholastic Publishers is donating books and a book vending machine, as well as artwork for the waiting area. In addition, CSC clinicians and staff will develop a visual representation of the values of the Child Study Center by creating a “word cloud” in the shape of a tree, to be displayed at 350 George St. and 230 South Frontage Road.
“Our new space will not only be beautiful but in that beauty convey our respect and care for the families coming to us,” Mayes says. “Most importantly, it will provide families with easy access to our services in a warm and supportive environment, and it will bring our clinicians together in a single location that encourages teamwork, creativity, and innovation.”